Abortion pill too dangerous to be sold
At a Senate hearing on the arthritis drug Vioxx‚ a Food and Drug Administration official named five other drugs that should be either removed from the market or severely restricted because of complications arising from their use. These five drugs are Crestor‚ Meridia‚ Bextra‚ Accutane and Serevent.
When the New York Post filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the deaths related to Ortho-McNeil’s contraceptive patch‚ they reported their findings in October that at least 17 women’s deaths were related to the patch.
The records show the FDA did not follow the five standard procedural and scientific requirements to prove safety and effectiveness for the abortion pill RU-486. The FDA has received 676 reports of problems with the drug‚ including 17 ectopic pregnancies‚ 72 cases of blood loss so severe that they required transfusions and 7 cases of serious infections. Also‚ a myocardial infarction in a 21-year-old woman three days after her abortion. Three Americans‚ one Canadian‚ two Britons and one Swede have died after taking RU-486. I would also add to this list birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy that are known to cause blood clots‚ heart attacks and strokes. Documents released by the FDA under a Freedom of Information Act suit‚ show that the Clinton administration – which had been warned of the potential hazards of RU-486 as far back as 1995 in a citizen’s petition filed by Americans United for Life – pushed to get it approved before the 2000 election despite the lack of reliable data demonstrating its safety.
The Food and Drug Administration did announce recently that it will only strengthen the warning label for RU-486‚ known by the brand name Mifeprex. It seems political concerns are given more consideration than women’s lives. If the FDA were serious about protecting women‚ drugs like RU-486 and the patch would definitely be included in the above lists of drugs to be banned from the market.
Last year Sen. Sam Brownback‚ R-Kansas‚ and Rep. (and now Senator-elect) Jim DeMint‚ R-S.C.‚ unsuccessfully put forward a bill that would have suspended the drug’s approval pending further study. You might want to ask Congress why this wasn’t important. And how many disabilities and deaths are acceptable for drugs that have no proven medical necessity?
Sandy Sasso of Hatfield is president of North Penn Citizens for Life.
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Posted by Editor at December 8, 2004 09:34 PM
