Tale of Two Drugs

[realFedUp]

Tale of Two Drugs
Stephen Pizzo
http://www.newsforreal.com/
January 24, 2006

Yesterday the FDA moved a prescription-only drug one step away from being sold over the counter, like aspirin. The drug, by Glaxosmithkline, is called Xenical, a weight loss medication.

Now the hyprocrisy begins. The FDA's action yesterday puts Xenical in the bullpen with another drug waiting the final node for over the counter status – Plan B – the so-called “morning after” birth control pill.

While Xenical settles in for what promises to be a short wait in FDA limbo, Plan B has set up virtual housekeeping there. Plan B got the same nod from the FDA's panel of experts on December 16, 2003. That panel, the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee and Non-prescription Drugs Advisory Committee, voted a stunning 23 to 4 to recommend that the FDA approve the sale of Plan available over the counter.

snip

Fundamentalist claim that Plan B is not a contractive, but an “abortion pill.” When they get really worked up they use more colorful descriptions, like "insecticide," since they think it kills the fetus. Of course science has never been their strongest subject in school, and science says Plan B is not an abortive, but just a super-dose of the same stuff in birth control pills. (Which, by the way, a lot of fundamentalst Christian would ban too, if they could.)

Fact: On average, if 100 women have unprotected intercourse once during the second or third week of their cycle and eight will become pregnant. Taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex, Plan B reduces the average risk of pregnancy among users from about 8 percent to about 1 percent—an 89 percent reduction.