MIRCETTE BIRTHCONTROL

A male birth-control pill on horizon

November 30, 2006

By Theresa Walsh Giarrusso | Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 12:04 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The “Today� show reported that the British are developing a hormone-free male birth control pill that could be on the market in five years. The pill is taken a few hours before having sex and affects the muscle that pushes the sperm out. Apparently a guy can still have an orgasm there just wouldn’t be any sperm there. (Here’s the full story.)

But as I sit here 6-months pregnant and 20 pounds heavier, I am wondering would women really trust their husbands or boyfriends to take these pills?

I think that men trust women to take the Pill because it has traditionally been our role to provide birth control and also we’re the ones that will get pregnant if we don’t. (I’m not saying pregnancy doesn’t affect the guy, but pregnancy obviously affects the woman more.)

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What do you think? Is this a birth control option you would be into? Would you trust the man to take care of business?

(I know this is a hot topic, but please be good today – I’m sick as a dog. Thanks for your consideration.)

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PHILIPPINES: MUSLIM REBELS BLAME U.S. FOR LASTING SOUTHERN REBELLION

November 28, 2006

Cotabato City, 27 Nov. (AKI) - The country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has blamed Washington for an inheritance of decades-old rebellion in Mindanao. “Our people had objected into joining the Filipinos in their quest for independence, but the United States government did not listen to our pleas and petitions to form a separate state or at least be treated as an American colony until our people would be ready for self-rule,” MILF’s peace panel secretariat head, Jun Mantawil, said in a statement obtained by the Adnkronos International (AKI).

“The US could have prevented this conflict if they separated the Moros [as the Filipino Muslim are collectively known] from the Filipinos, but they did not because greater US interests were better served by putting them together,” he added.

Mantawil recalled that in 1926, the US – then the colonial power in the Philippines - had sent a fact-finding mission to the Philippines to determine the people’s view on the propose grant of independence to Manila.

The mission reported back to Washington that, in Mindanao, the Moros were a “unit against independence” and preferred American control rather than being ruled by Filipinos.

Mantawil said the US ignored the Moro views and proceeded to give self-rule to the Filipinos. This, Mantawil said – was the seed that planted the rebellion as Manila subsequently passed oppressive laws designed to confiscate Moro landholdings and erase all vestiges of control over the island.

“However, US officials recently admitted they made a mistake over the matter,” Mantawil added.

In separate interview, MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu told AKI that the late MILF Chairman, Salamat Hashim, on May 24, 2003 wrote to US President George W. Bush and asked Washington to correct the injustices committed against Muslims.

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“Bush appreciated the letter and he promised to help in resolving the problem in Mindanao. He also committed to give financial assistance for rehabilitation program of areas affected by the war,” Kabalu said.

Since then, Washington’s role was mostly played by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent, non-partisan institution established and funded by the US Congress. Yet, the USIP is conspicuously not a party to the broad, Malaysia-led peace talks, which were launched after the two sides signed a tentative truce in July 2003.

However, the US involvement in the peace process is set to increase as Bush has accepted Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s invitation to take a wider role. The invitation was made during the Asia Pacific Economic Conference Leaders Summit in Vietnam, early this month,

As a first step, Bush has assigned an official from the US Embassy in Manila to coordinate with Manila’s peace adviser, Silvestre Afable.

Peace talks between MILF and Manila have recently drew to a halt over the rebels’ demand to include close to 1,000 villages as part of their proposed homeland without a referendum.

The MILF has warned that the talks could end up in an open conflict with authorities if the territorial issue remained unresolved.

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Bush appoints “choose life� conservative to head family-planning programs

November 22, 2006

The Bush administration, catering to the extreme right-wing constituency in the Republican Party, has appointed yet another abortion opponent to a top post in the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Eric Keroack, medical director of a Christian pregnancy counseling agency, will assume the position of deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in two weeks, where he will have considerable authority over both the Office of Family Planning and the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. The appointment, which did not require Senate confirmation, flies in the face of the recent electoral rejection of anti-abortion proposals and candidates throughout the country.

A Woman’s Concern, the Massachusetts-based family planning agency Keroack currently directs, opposes contraception on moral grounds and does not distribute contraceptives or educational materials on contraception at its six locations. The organization’s web site states, “A Woman’s Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading to human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness.�

Rather than provide access to contraceptives or education about protecting against sexually transmitted diseases, the organization promotes abstinence, or “sexual purity and self-mastery,� claiming without basis that “distribution of birth control, especially among adolescents, actually increases out-of-wedlock pregnancy and abortion.�

Agencies such as A Woman’s Concern now outnumber abortion providers in the US. Most of the more than 2,000 anti-abortion “crisis counseling� facilities have opened within the past few years using federal funds earmarked for providing access to contraceptives. There is little doubt that this trend will escalate under Keroack. Many of these facilities set up shop directly adjacent to Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics in an effort to confuse women seeking abortions and lure them in.

The federal family planning program Keroack will oversee currently allocates $283 million in grants to 4,600 family planning clinics, which provide counseling to 5 million people each year. According to the HHS, the federal grants are “designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons.� Bush administration spokespersons have insisted that Keroack’s anti-abortion and anti-contraception views will not interfere with the duties of his post, but it could hardly be otherwise.

A November 17 report by the Boston Globe cited Keroack’s “trailblazing� role in the anti-abortion movement for his introduction of ultrasound images into pregnancy counseling sessions. Keroack is also well known for comparing premarital sexual relationships to illicit drug use and has been a vociferous advocate of abstinence-only sex education.

According to the Globe, when the American Medical Association recommended against teaching abstinence-only education in 2004, Keroack disagreed, saying in the Washington Times, “Abstinence education is the first mechanism that has actually made a positive impact on the devastation caused by the errant sexual education programs of the 1970s and 1980s.�

At Brandeis University’s Christian Awareness Week in 2002, Keroack likened the modern conception of sexuality to warfare. “Sexual activity is a war zone,â€? he told an audience during a panel discussion. “What we have is this ongoing war. So we’re constantly coming up with better equipment…. And the truth is that somewhere along the way people die in war.â€?

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In 2003, Keroack delivered a PowerPoint presentation before the International Abstinence Leadership Conference in which he purported to scientifically demonstrate that a premarital relationship corrupts the ability to emotionally bond with subsequent partners or children. One slide announced, “PRE-MARITAL SEX is really MODERN GERM WARFARE.� In another, comparing unmarried sexual relationships to cocaine, Keroack listed the “drawbacks� of drug use: “ADDICTING, RAPID TOLERANCE, EXTREMELY SHORT-ACTING, ILLEGAL.�

This moral menacing has nothing to do either with science or democratic society. However, the appointment of an individual espousing anti-choice views is wholly in line with the extremist position of the Bush administration toward science and civil liberties in general.

One of Bush’s first acts in office in 2001 was the banning of federal funds for women’s aid groups abroad that helped procure abortions and contraceptives, and the administration introduced further funding cuts for international family planning groups this year. In his first budget, Bush removed the requirement that contraceptives be covered by insurance companies participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Congress passed the first-ever federal ban on abortion three years ago and has restricted gynecologic care for women in the military. Congress also passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, granting a fertilized egg legal status as a separate human being from a woman against whom violence is perpetrated in the course of any one of 68 federal offenses.

The Bush administration has inserted no small number of individuals into scientific and public policy positions whose conservative views essentially constitute a conflict of interest, including the right-wing HHS secretary, Mike Leavitt. The HHS is the largest department in the federal government, encompassing Medicare, Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several other agencies. Leavitt has pushed through numerous divestitures of elementary social programs and dubious deals with the pharmaceutical industry since he was appointed by Bush two years ago.

The FDA in particular been compromised by the meddling of religious groups and big business. Lobbying and the appointment of unqualified ideologues in the FDA have generated several rounds of resignations, and created an atmosphere of unscrupulousness, mistrust, and disorder within the agency.

Last year, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into the FDA’s rejection of the Plan B contraceptive found numerous deviations from procedure, both scientific and legal, aimed at imposing religious restrictions on the basic civil liberties of women.

After the Plan B contraceptive was given long-overdue approval, FDA leadership denied it over-the-counter status, and a special provision was created allowing anti-choice physicians and pharmacists to refuse emergency contraceptives on moral grounds.

The US population, on the other hand, overwhelmingly supports the protection of a woman’s right to contraceptives and abortion services, as well as sex education that includes information about contraceptives rather than “abstinence-only� programs

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Bush health hire blasted

November 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — The White House’s decision to name a Massachusetts physician with strong ties to a group opposed to birth control and abortion as head of the U.S. government’s family-planning program has outraged family-planning groups and reaffirmed the Republicans’ close ties to the Christian right.

Eric Keroack, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was appointed last week as deputy assistant secretary of population affairs at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The appointment shows that President George W. Bush is in no mood to back down from his practice of making controversial appointments despite the thrashing that his Republican Party took in this month’s midterm congressional election.

Along with Dr. Keroack’s appointment, the President has renominated the acerbic and confrontational John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and had Andrew Biggs, a proponent of social-security privatization, appointed to the agency that runs the program, even though public opinion is opposed to privatization.
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The Globe and Mail

Dr. Keroack has worked for several years as the unpaid medical director of A Woman’s Concern, which operates a network of pregnancy centres that try to persuade women not to have abortions and to practise sexual abstinence.

“Frankly, we think it’s outrageous,” said Jackie Payne, director of government relations at Planned Parenthood, whose 850 affiliated health centres are major recipients of funding from Dr. Keroack’s new agency. “We saw the elections as a mandate against extreme attacks on women’s health.”

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In South Dakota, for instance, voters rejected a state law that would have banned abortion in virtually all circumstances, including rape and incest. Dr. Keroack has been a medical adviser to the Abstinence Clearinghouse, an anti-abortion and anti-birth-control group whose president was a major backer of the measure.

“For the administration to appoint somebody who is completely antithetical to the purposes of the program is really bad news for women’s health,” Ms. Payne said.

In his new job, Dr. Keroack will be responsible for overseeing a $283-million (U.S.) annual budget for contraception, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and various preventive services, although abortion is specifically excluded. He will also oversee a $13-million program that encourages sexual abstinence.

Christian anti-abortion groups applauded the appointment. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, applauded Mr. Bush for “keeping his promise to appoint men and women who respect the culture of life.”

Mark Conrad, president of A Woman’s Concern, said his group provides counselling for women with unplanned pregnancies, including free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to help women make an “informed choice about their pregnancies.” He said Dr. Keroack shares the group’s view that “contraception has led to an increase in unplanned pregnancies.”

At the Department of Health and Human Services, spokeswoman Christina Pearson denied that Dr. Keroack is opposed to birth control, saying that he has prescribed contraceptives as a physician in private practice and will have no problem running the program.

Dr. Keroack’s appointment is seen as a nod to the Christian right, which remains Mr. Bush’s most loyal base

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Plan B(R) OTC Now Available in Pharmacies Nationwide

November 20, 2006

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ — The new dual-label Plan B(R) (levonorgestrel) emergency contraceptive arrives in pharmacies this week. To help patients, pharmacists, and healthcare providers understand how this unprecedented product status - Rx and Over-the-Counter (OTC) - will work, Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., will launch the CARE (Convenient Access Responsible Education) Program, a comprehensive education program for healthcare professionals and consumers.

Approved on August 24, 2006, the new dual-label Plan B(R) is an OTC product for consumers 18 years of age and older and prescription only for women 17 and younger. It is marketed as a single package, which allows for a prescription label to be adhered to the package when dispensed to women age 17 and younger.

“We are pleased with the FDA’s historic decision, which gives women more timely access to Plan B(R) emergency contraception,” said Amy Niemann, Vice President of Marketing-Proprietary Products at Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “We are committed to educating consumers on the facts about Plan B(R), as well as how they can purchase the product depending on their age.”

Over-the-Counter, but Behind-the-Counter

“For consumers 18 and older, Plan B(R) is available over-the-counter, but it must be kept behind-the-counter,” said Kathleen Besinque, PharmD., MSEd, FASHP, Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at USC School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, CA. “Consumers simply go straight to the pharmacy counter, ask a pharmacy staff member for help, show them a government issued ID, and get Plan B(R). Consumers should read the enclosed patient information before taking Plan B(R).”

Since some people may be embarrassed or afraid to ask the pharmacist for emergency contraception, especially in a crowded pharmacy, Besinque offers some tips for consumers to help alleviate any concerns:

– Hand the pharmacist a slip of paper with the request for Plan B(R)

– Ask to speak to the pharmacist privately in the consultation area

– Call the pharmacist to ask questions on the phone rather than in
person and tell them that you are coming in to pick it up

For Women 17 and Younger

For women 17 and younger, Plan B(R) is still available with a prescription from a healthcare provider. Another growing option in some states where legislation has been passed and regulations implemented is pharmacy access, which enables women to get Plan B(R) directly from certified pharmacists at participating pharmacies without going to a healthcare provider first for a prescription. Nine states currently have these programs in place, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington.

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Even after all the news, many women still are confused about what Plan B(R) is, what it isn’t, how to use it and now, how to get it.

“Women need to understand that Plan B(R) is meant as a backup contraceptive,” said Tina Raine, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of OB/GYN and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF, San Francisco General Hospital. “Plan B(R) contains the same safe hormone used in birth control pills, just in a higher dose. Women also need to realize that it needs to be taken as soon as possible after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.”

How Plan B(R) Works

Consisting of two tablets of 0.75 mg levonorgestrel, Plan B(R) works similar to other oral contraceptives - by preventing ovulation or fertilization; it may also inhibit implantation. Once implantation occurs, Plan B(R) is not effective. Importantly, Plan B(R) will not work if a woman is already pregnant. And there is no evidence that it will harm a pregnant woman or a developing fetus.

Plan B(R) should be taken within three days (72 hours) of intercourse, ideally within the first 24 hours after unprotected sex. When taken as directed, Plan B(R) has been shown to reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent.

Important Information

Plan B(R) does not protect against the AIDS virus (HIV) or other sexually transmitted infections. Common side effects associated with the use of Plan B(R) included nausea, abdominal pain, menstrual changes, dizziness, breast tenderness, and vomiting. Please see full prescribing information. For more information, please visit http://www.go2planb.com/ or call 800-330-1271.

About Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses its product development and marketing activities primarily in the women’s healthcare category. Since its formation in 2001, the Company’s proprietary products subsidiary has steadily grown to over 400 employees, including its Women’s Healthcare and Specialty Products Force. Duramed has 20 products in its portfolio, primarily focused on women’s healthcare products, with particular emphasis on developing and marketing products that serve the reproductive and menopausal needs of women. During fiscal 2006, Duramed added five products to its proprietary portfolio, including four women’s healthcare products. These include the SEASONIQUE(TM) extended-regimen oral contraceptive; Mircette(R) oral contraceptive; ENJUVIA(TM) hormone therapy; and the ParaGard(R) IUC.

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Proposal would soften stance on homosexuals

November 14, 2006

BALTIMORE - High-profile, controversial issues - ministry to gay Catholics, contraception for married couples and worthiness for the reception of Holy Communion - dominated much of the conversation Monday at the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The nation’s bishops also discussed topics ranging from the war in Iraq to liturgical songs.

Monday’s presentations served as introductions to issues the bishops plan to debate and vote on Tuesday.

The doctrine committee presented a document addressing ministering to homosexuals. While maintaining the church’s traditional teaching that homosexual acts are “morally disordered” and “contrary to the natural law,” the new document softens the church’s attitude toward homosexuals who remain chaste.

“While the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, she does distinguish between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual inclination,” the document reads. “While the former is always sinful, the latter is not.”

The document “is intended primarily as a resource for diocesan bishops,” according to Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., and chairman of the doctrine committee.

The document also takes up the issue of baptizing the adopted children of gay couples, saying that while the matter “presents a pastoral concern the Church does not refuse the Sacrament of Baptism to these children” if there’s reason to believe the children will be brought up Catholic.

The bishops’ pro-life committee presented a new document about birth control aimed at engaged and married Catholic couples. It reaffirms the church’s much-ignored teaching that contraception is immoral.

A 2003 ABC News poll reported that 94 percent of Catholics found “using the birth control pill or condoms” morally acceptable. A 2005 Harris poll reported that birth control is supported by 90 percent of American Catholics.

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The bishops’ own numbers aren’t much better, saying only 4 percent “of Catholic married couples of childbearing age use Natural Family Planning,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website.

James P. Hanigan, a professor of moral theology at Duquesne University who has studied the church’s teaching on birth control, was skeptical about the potential for the new document’s success.

“It seems to me extremely unlikely it will make much difference to most people,” he said.

The doctrine committee also proposed a question-and-answer pamphlet that seeks to catechize, or teach, Catholics the basics about Holy Communion and who may and may not receive it.

The document stems from a request made by Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., in the summer of 2004.

In early 2004, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said he would deny Communion to Sen. John Kerry, who was running for the U.S. presidency and who supports abortion rights. Months later, Burke said St. Louis Catholics who voted for politicians who support abortion rights would be committing a mortal sin and would have to confess before receiving Holy Communion.

He later clarified his statement saying Catholic voters would have to be voting for a candidate specifically because the candidate supported abortion rights for the church to consider it a sin.

Other matters taken up by the bishops Monday included a statement calling for “responsible transition” in Iraq, a possible national directory for liturgical music, a plan to reorganize their own conference, a revision of the lectionary - Scripture readings - during Advent and a report from the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.

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Birth control pills out of stock, women out of luck

November 1, 2006

Two popular brands of birth control pills are in short supply across Canada, leaving many women scrambling to fill their prescriptions.

The pills — under the Alesse and Triphasil names — are made by the U.S. company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The company temporarily stopped production of the two brands in August, which means some pharmacies have run out, making refills almost impossible to get.

Moncton pharmacist Anne-Marie Ford checks her dwindling supply of Alesse and Triphasil birth control pills.Moncton pharmacist Anne-Marie Ford checks her dwindling supply of Alesse and Triphasil birth control pills.

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In Moncton, N.B., Ford’s is one of the lucky pharmacies that still has a reserve stock. Pharmacist Anne-Marie Ford says she has enough to last the next couple of weeks. After that, her patients are out of luck.

“I know there are some stores that are totally out,” said Ford. “We did contact the wholesalers and the wholesalers are all out, as is the manufacturer.”

Alesse and Triphasil are two of the most popular brands of birth control, and you don’t have to look hard to find women taking them.

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Male Contraceptive Drug - Non Hormonal Alternative

November 1, 2006

A contraceptive drug for men , based on a non hormonal approach is being studied by scientists. Until now , the fact that an adult male usually produces 150 million sperm has made the formulation of a male birth control pill diffcult.

Final clinical trials are being done on a hormonal male pill , based on progesterone - a female hormone that inhibits the formation of sperm - and testosterone, the male hormone added to counter the adverse effects of progesterone. But this does not appeal to most men who have fears of the progesterone affecting their masculinity , in spite of lack of evidence of such a likelihood.

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Chuen Yan Cheng of the Population Council in New York is pioneering a new approach to get around this problem . This method involves a a chemical called adherin which blocks the development of sperm temporarily , and does not alter the sex hormone ratio in the body. Studies on rats have also shown that there are no serious side effects on the heart, kidney, lungs and other vital organs in the long term.

During spermatogenesis when sperms are being manufactured in the testes, they are helped in their development into mature sperm by special tissue called Sertoli cells. Adherin acts by breaking the bond between the immature sperm and the Sertoli cells. Therefore the male hormones are not affected at

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