After watching that you’ve got to think Yaz is awesome. It practically heals women of…like…everything. Goodbye to irritability, moodiness, headaches, bloating, muscle aches, increased appetite, and acne.
My goodness, they’ve invented the greatest girl in the world with no irritability, no headaches, small appetite, good skin, no bloating. No wonder they need birth control.
Unfortunately, it might also be killing women. But don’t tell anyone women are dying due to a contraceptive. Nobody needs to know that a young college student collapsed in the shower and died of a pulmonary embolism that some believe was caused by a blood clot as a side effect of Yaz. Nobody needs to know of the hundreds of women reporting serious and life threatening side effects.
Don’t mention this to anyone but hundreds of women are suing the makers of the birth control pill Yaz claiming that the drugs cause heart attacks and strokes as well as a host of other issues.
Last year, makers of Yaz got into hot water with the FDA for claiming that their pills besides preventing pregnancy, also cured pimples and PMS. The FDA said the ads overstated the pills’ abilities. That’s lying to me and you. A spokesperson for Yaz said: “You may have seen some YAZ commercials that were not clear. The FDA wants us to correct a few points in those ads,” said a spokeswoman in a YAZ commercial.
WREG reported:
One lawsuit claims “the FDA received reports of more than 50 deaths” where those who died were users of YAZ. It said Bayer “ignored the increased risks of the drug.”
Look. We all know lawyers will say just about anything to get a cash judgement but this all looks pretty bad. If you poke around you’ll see that lawsuits against Yaz is essentially its own industry at this point.
Yaz reportedly made $600 million a year. The Yaz folks are claiming that all the possible side effects were warned about but that doesn’t point to how much of a risk the pill is.
Here’s some women discussing Yaz. Why don’t they run this as a commercial.
Look. I don’t know if Yaz is better or worse than any other birth control pill but I think it’s pretty amazing how many lawsuits are being filed while there’s been almost complete silence in the media about this other than a few local news stories like the one above.
Man, if only Toyota sold birth control they probably could’ve avoided their whole p.r. disaster.
Think about this. When a number of soldiers all returning from the Middle East reported certain symptoms the media ran with that story non-stop. But hundreds of women reporting dangerous side effects from birth control? Yawn. This is once again showing the triumph of ideology.
February 19, 2010 at 3:07 am
Yeah, so what. You do get less irritability, moodiness, headaches, bloating, muscle aches, increased appetite, and acne. But you also get pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks and strokes! You get those free and they aren't even advertised!
February 19, 2010 at 5:58 am
Seems pretty obvious to me. Women are taken medicine that takes a normal body and makes it function abnormaly. "Medicine that makes you sick" will do just that.
February 19, 2010 at 5:59 am
Yeah, about time somebody sued them! They should be required to put a large sign on their product which says: DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH!
Also they should not be allowed to advertise such dangerous product.
February 19, 2010 at 6:43 am
Hormonal birth control is poison. This is not an exaggeration.
Yaz/Yasmin isn't the first hormonal contraceptive to have dangerous, fatal 'side effects' pinned to it. The birth control patch was taken off the market a few years back after a few deaths were reported (also pulmonary embolisms), and it's easy to find stories of women who say that Depo-Provera (the shot) caused their health to spiral downwards. Oh, and let's not forget that it is entirely impossible to quantify the number of deaths of tiny human embryos which were unable to implant into a hostile endometrium due to the side-effects of hormonal birth control.
Also–Does anyone seriously think that the upswing in infertility in the last 50 years, and the resulting boom in IVF and other unethical 'fertility treatments,' has nothing to do with the hormones women pump into their bodies for years–decades–to avoid having children? The delicate hormone balance that preserves the healthy functioning of a woman's cycle is totally thrown into chaos by hormonal contraception, and the perfect balance is really not easy to recover.
The synthetic estrogens in the Pill are called endocrine DISRUPTORS. They are not adequately processed by the liver, and are eliminated from a woman's body without being broken down. The water supply has been contaminated by hormonal birth control. So really, hormonal BC affects all of us: from fish in contaminated waters who have become intersex or totally female, to NFP-using women who never touched the Pill yet still struggle to have healthy hormone levels, to men whose fertility has been affected by excess environmental estrogen.
And, oh yeah, it's killing women. Thank you, sexual revolution!
February 19, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I completely agree with "godandchocolate." And do you ever hear the mainstream media talk these issues?! *crickets*
The people who know the truths and are silent about them are no friends of women.
February 19, 2010 at 1:06 pm
"My goodness, they've invented the greatest girl in the world with no irritability, no headaches, small appetite, good skin, no bloating" and a triple crown winner with a career .285 batting avg. and 452 home runs.
February 19, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I've seen these ads and they list all these horrific side effects in the ads. I've often wondered why someone would still want to take a drug whose last listed side effect is death.
I'm sure all these are listed in the literature with the drug, which one is encouraged to read and which I am sure nobody does. But I don't see how these side effects are a surprise really, they've been known for a long time, and for all oral contraceptives.
February 19, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Shared on my FB account with the comment: 'So, women suffer from adverse (and sometimes lethal) side effects, and the company's defense is, "Well, we told you it could happen, and besides, it's not just us–they're all like that." '
–Nicole
February 19, 2010 at 5:39 pm
As a conservative libertarian, I'm mixed on this. I know from an experience with a relative the dangers of birth-control; she suffered 3 strokes that left her paralized on the left side of her body. The doctor recommended birth-control for her and while she has never been the brightest penny in the jar, at the end of the day she was the one who chose to take the medication and her lifestyle.
We as a society poison our bodies everyday, from prescription drugs of all shades and potencies to tobacco and alcohol. Even FDA approved food preservatives are linked to known carcenogens. So, for me, the best thing we can do is twofold; 1. raise the awareness of the dangers of this particular drug and 2. shift the morality and show there IS a cause and effect.
February 19, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I find it so ironic when I watch a channel that will play the Yaz commercial and on the next break play the ad for the lawfirm suing the manufacturers of Yaz.
Just gotta love capitalism sometimes.
February 20, 2010 at 12:49 am
The information below is taken from professional literature and applies to ALL estrogen/progestin containing contraceptives (pill, patch, vaginal ring).
In addition, Yaz can cause an abnormally high level of potassium in the blood. It also significantly reduces testosterone levels in women (whereas most contraceptives increase testosterone to some degree).
*****************************
An increased risk of the following serious adverse reactions has been associated with the use of oral contraceptives.
* Thrombophlebitis
* Arterial thromboembolism
* Pulmonary embolism
* Myocardial infarction
* Cerebral hemorrhage
* Cerebral thrombosis
* Hypertension
* Gallbladder disease
* Hepatic adenomas or benign liver tumors
There is evidence of an association between the following conditions and the use of oral contraceptives:
* Mesenteric thrombosis
* Retinal thrombosis
The following adverse reactions have been reported in patients receiving oral contraceptives and are believed to be drug-related:
* Nausea
* Vomiting
* Gastrointestinal symptoms (such as abdominal cramps and bloating)
* Breakthrough bleeding
* Spotting
* Change in menstrual flow
* Amenorrhea
* Temporary infertility after discontinuation of treatment
* Edema
* Melasma which may persist
* Breast changes: tenderness, enlargement, secretion
* Change in weight or appetite (increase or decrease)
* Change in cervical ectropion and secretion
* Possible diminution in lactation when given immediately postpartum
* Cholestatic jaundice
* Migraine
* Rash (allergic)
* Mood changes, including depression
* Reduced tolerance to carbohydrates
* Vaginitis, including candidiasis
* Change in corneal curvature (steepening)
* lntolerance to contact lenses
* Decrease in serum folate levels
* Exacerbation of systemic lupus erythematosus
* Exacerbation of porphyria
* Exacerbation of chorea
* Aggravation of varicose veins
* Anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, including urticaria, angioedema, and severe reactions with respiratory and circulatory symptoms
*******************************
And then there are the side effects that they don't talk about, like changing a woman's choice of partner, adversely effecting her lipid profile, etc.
February 20, 2010 at 12:53 am
My 19 year old roommate back in college, in 1991, had a mini stroke from the "mini" pill. It was scary.
OK, yes, she was a smoker. But when you hear commericals on TV, they always warn about side effects of the pill for smoking women over the age of 35. Whenever I hear that now, I just laugh to myself.
February 20, 2010 at 3:29 am
Well, seems Bayer has learned a thing or three from the Snake Oil Salesmen of old in selling Yaz.
On the whole, I'd rather have the snake oil!
February 20, 2010 at 3:42 am
On the whole, I'd rather have the snake oil!
And once again, I don't know the half of it.
Chinese Snake Oil, which was the original source, turns out to consist of 25% of an Omega-3 fatty acid called EPA. Unlike Yaz, EPA is an essential oil and can promote health by reducing joint pain.
March 30, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Well interesting post, everyone think like this same that contraceptives are the most safe source trying to avoid unwanted pregnancy, tubal reversal is a procedure by which a woman has a chance to pregnant again.