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WASHINGTON (AP) — A consumer advocacy group petitioned the U.S. government Thursday to pull the birth-control patch off the market, calling it far riskier than the pill.
"Ortho-Evra is a poor choice for women," Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen wrote the Food and Drug Administration.
Warnings about the Ortho-Evra weekly patch have escalated since a 2005 investigation by the Associated Press found patch users suffer higher rates of life-threatening blood clots than women who take birth-control pills.
Blood clots are a rare side effect for estrogen-related products. Some, but not all, studies of the risk suggest patch users have twice the risk of clots in the legs and lungs as do women who swallow the pill, because patients absorb up to 60% more estrogen via the patch. The FDA updated Ortho-Evra's label in 2005, 2006 and earlier this year with clot warnings.
More
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-05-08-birth-control_N.htm
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