“Unjustified” Fears On Oral Contraceptives

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31587, 26 January 1968, Page 16

“Unjustified” Fears On Oral Contraceptives

Nothing yet had arisen in oral contraceptives that could not be handled by good physician judgment. Dr Nichols Vorys, associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Ohio State University Hospital, said last night in an address at the congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. Oral compounds and their administration would in fact prove useful as therapeutics as well as contraceptives, he said. Tests over the last 12 years had not justified fears that cancer, thrombosis and liver diseases would be increased with the use of oral contraceptives. The chances of thrombosis were greater for the person undergoing a normal pregnancy than for someone

who had taken oral conti’ceptives, he said. There was no chance of a person getting cancer of the cervix from taking oral contraceptives, and even less chance of its occurring in the body of the uterus, but persons who had a family history of cancer of the breast should not take them, he said. Nor, though oral contraceptives did not affect the functions of the liver, should persons who had had some liver complaint take them. Tests had also shown that oral contraceptives did not harm the glandular system. Thyroid, adrenal and ovary glands were affected, but their biological functions were not harmed. The oral contraceptive was far more effective than any other method, and was nearing the realm of certainty. To a question. Professor Vorys said that some progress was being made in producirg a male oral contraceptive, but anything that would affect a male was hard to sell.