In a bid to prevent “unwanted pregnancy” among teenagers, the government has decided to clear the decks for advertisements of oral contraceptives in print and television media. The advertisements will now be carried with specific warnings about the pitfalls of excessive usage. The advertisements were withdrawn on the recommendation of the government’s chief drug advisory which found rampant use of pills among teenagers.
Speaking to this newspaper, the director-general of health services, Dr Jagdish Prasad, said that “the problem of unwanted pregnancy in the country is growing rapidly.”
For him, “The advertisements are an important source of information and hence suspending them is not a solution.”
He said, “We have asked the present Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to allow the advertisements to go on air without further delay.”
After the advertisements of oral contraceptives like I-pill and Wanted 72 were banned two years back, a committee was formed to look into the content of the advertisement.
In its report submitted to the Drug Technical Advisory Board, the committee, comprising a principal of a women’s college, a representative of a NGO, senior gynaecologist and a representative of the Advertising Standard Council of India had stated that the drugs were “safe” for use in both younger and elder women and have no side effects even after multiple use.
The report, however, cautioned that the concerned drugs should not be promoted as a “regular contraceptive but as an emergency contraceptive only”.
According to a member of the committee it has been recommended that advertisements should mention about the side-effects, which include “disruption of menstrual cycles.”
The users should also be told about the “ minimum interval to be maintained between the doses”.
Earlier, the health ministry had received several complaints about the rampant misuse of the pills by teenagers.
Even the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India had expressed its concerns over the possible misuse of the pills.
The doctors had even expressed apprehension that the easy availability of these pills were likely to promote unsafe sex and result in the rise of sexually transmitted diseases.