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September 6, 2003
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday
approved a new type of birth control pill that enables women
to skip their monthly menstrual cycle for about three months.
The new pill, called Seasonale, should be available by prescription
by the end of October, according to Barr Laboratories Inc.
of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., which developed it.
Seasonale uses the same hormones in the same doses as most
traditional birth control pills and so is considered equally
safe. Standard birth control pills can increase the risk for
blood clots, heart attacks and strokes, especially among women
who smoke.
The difference is that each packet contains 84 hormone pills
instead of 21, followed by seven placebo pills, so the reproductive
process is suppressed for three months instead of three weeks.
Many women have been using traditional birth control pills
that way anyway, either because they want to skip their period
for a special event such as a wedding or a vacation or because
they want to minimize their periods to avoid cramps, bloating,
crying jags, anxiety and other problems.
In tests, Seasonale won praise from women who suffer from intense
problems associated with their periods. But Seasonale also
sparked debate over what is considered "natural," whether
it is wise to manipulate a woman's reproductive cycle with
hormones for long periods of time and whether Seasonale is
a manifestation of societal biases against menstruation.
© 2003
The Washington Post Company
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Contraception