What's in your birth control pill?

Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to immediately ban third-generation oral contraceptives containing desogestrel because they almost double the risk of life-threatening blood clots compared to older forms of birth control pills, as reported in USA Today, and elsewhere yesterday.

According to the petition, women had more than 7.5 million prescriptions filled for third-generation oral contraceptives from November 2005 to October 2006. Banning the pills could save hundreds of women a year from developing venous thrombosis, or blood clots, which have disabling and sometimes fatal consequences. Venous thrombosis typically appears in a patient’s legs, but also can occur in the abdomen, arms, veins of the brain and superficial veins. Blood clots are particularly dangerous because they can travel through the veins and block blood flow at another location, causing a condition known as venous thromboembolism. Blood clots that travel to the lungs can cause pulmonary embolism, which is often fatal.

In a prepared release Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group explains,

"While the use of any type of combined oral contraceptive holds an increased risk of venous thrombosis, third-generation birth control pills double that risk without preventing pregnancy any more effectively than older pills do...Worse, the FDA has known since 1995 that these oral contraceptives were more dangerous but has allowed them to stay on the market for 12 years.”

The labels of all third-generation birth control pills contain a warning about this increased risk of venous thrombosis, an acknowledgement by the manufacturing companies of the greater risk of blood clots associated with third-generation oral contraceptives compared to the second-generation ones. But as the group points out, these warnings are in tiny type on an extensive info sheet that most women never read.

IF you're wondering whether the pill you're using contains desogestrel it's worth reading the full petition, which is available on the organization's website.

The group has also launched a website www.notmypill.org to raise awareness about desogestrel (complete with a nifty YouTube video).