Washington – The U.S Food and Drug Administration has approved Depo-Provera for use as a new contraceptive that would block pregnancy for three months after its injection. Presently, officials from Ottawa’s Department of Health are in consultation with the FDA to determine whether the drug should be allowed into Canada.
Depo-Provera, like most contraceptives has a number of side effects such as weight gain, nervousness, headaches, tensions and menstrual irregularities. It has also been mentioned that this drug is linked to breast, liver and cervical cancer. A study found that the drug, which has administered on a limited basis to retarded women in Ontario and girls in Winnipeg group homes, caused higher-than-normal levels of breast tumours in its users.
Quoted in the October 50, Globe and Mail, David Kessler, a commissioner for the FDA, said, “The drug presents another long-term effective option for women to prevent pregnancy.”
However, Cindy Pearson of the U.S. National Women’s Health Network did not echo Mr. Kessler’s sentiments: “We are very sorry it was approved. We are concerned about bringing a drug linked to cancer into a country where the risk of breast cancer is already so high.”
Pearson sees it as just another opportunity for women to pollute their bodies with unnatural chemical substances which produce unknown side-effects.
