200,000 Women Use Pill In New Zealand

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31332, 31 March 1967, Page 12

200,000 Women Use Pill In New Zealand

A private survey in New Zealand showed that more than 200,000 women use oral contraceptives, Mr F. B. Hubbard, publicity director for G. D. Searle and Company, Ltd., in London, said in Christchurch yesterday.

This represented two-fifths of all women in New Zealand who were of child bearing age. There were about 525,000 women in New Zealand between 18 and 44 and this span was taken as the child bearing group, he said.

Mr Hubbard is in (Jhristchurch to gather information on the extent of family planning in New Zealand and to gather facts about New Zealand’s use of oral contraceptives.

The company he represents was the first company in the world to produce oral contraceptives. He visited the United States and Australia before coming to New Zealand and will leave Christchurch for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Turkey.

His visits to these countries, particularly the underdeveloped countries, were aimed at an education and enlightenment programmes and investigation of family planning associations. “The pill” had been more exhaustively examined than any other drug on the medical market. Any criticism had been viewed with alarm and investigated fully before any pronouncements were made.

In spite of this the drug administration in all countries where the pill was used had found nothing in it to harm people. The side effects had been almost completely reduced and the effectiveness was 99.9 per cent. This effectiveness included forgetfulness, he said.

Mr Hubbard said he hoped to arrive in India soon after the oral contraceptive was officially available for sale. It was expected that the Indian government would approve the sale of oral contraceptives this year. Mr Hubbard was “Time” correspondent in Australia for 10 years and for eight years before that he worked for the “Chicago Daily News” as a foreign correspondent in Australia.