All I.U.D.s unsafe, says women’s coalition

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 6

All I.U.D.s unsafe, says women’s coalition

PA Wellington All intra-uterine contraceptive devices (I.U.D.S) are unsafe and should not be worn, according to a coalition of New Zealand women’s groups. Members of the Women’s Health Centre, Fertility Action, Daikon Shield support ' groups and other organisations who have formed a loose coalition since the Daikon Shield controversy, say they believe the risks of infection and injury are too high.

They are preparing submissions to the Government calling for changes in health regulations covering I.U.D.S and other contraceptives.

The coalition is' calling for changes in the New Zealand health and legal systems and in accident compensation laws to en-

sure that the Daikon Shield case is not repeated. The chairwoman of the Christchurch branch of the Women’s Health Centre, Ms Christine Bird, said there should be independent surveillance in New Zealand, not just a Health Department that “gets most of its information from the company in question”.

Ms Bird said there should be provision for women themselves to report independently of doctors to an independent tribunal instead of going to doctors “who tell them it is psychosomatic and don’t inform the Health Department”. It was also important that accident compensation provisions be looked at to see that women suffering from 1.U.D.-linked health problems were covered.

JThe women’s action coin-

cides with the campaign by A. H. Robins, the American manufacturer of the Daikon Shield, to publicise a deadline for filing claims against itself.

The shield was withdrawn from the market after it was linked to pelvic inflammatory disease, septic abortions, infertility and death. Litigation has started in the United States against other manufacturers of I.U.D.S, including the Lippes Loop, an inert plastic device, and the copper-bearing Copper 7. Ms Bird said her organisation had helped women who had septic abortions, had nearly died from septicaemia, were rendered permanently infertile or had still births.

Most of these women had been using Daikon Shields but there was increasing evidence that all I.U.D.S were a health risk, she said.

It was proven, “although some doctors ignored it,” that I.U.D.S caused bacterial irritation and became a breeding ground for any bacteria, she said.

After the Daikon Shield press conference in Wellington on Thursday, Ms Bird announced that a network would be set up by the coalition to attempt to carry the information about the claim deadline to Pacific countries.

She said the group would use extensive existing women’s organisational contacts in an attempt to reach quickly Pacific women who might otherwise not hear the shield manufacturer’s message.

A. H. Robins is sending press material to Island newspapers but is not carrying out an advertising programme in the region. Ms Bird said she was concerned not only that women might not hear the news, but that there was a severe risk of personal injury if a device was removed inexpertly. She was also concerned lest original warnings of the risk of using a Daikon Shield were not conveyed vigorously in Pacific countries. ' -

It was possible that the harm was even greater in those cases than in New Zealand. The I.U.D. was marketed in New Zealand in sterile packages but it was not known if this was done in all countries.

In 1974, when A. H. Robins closed its United States’ market, it switched to distributing the I.U.D.S through its foreign subsidiaries, she said. That was exactly the time the company started producing unsterilised packages. In cases where individual health departments did not request shield removal programmes, no such programmes were run, Ms Bird said. There had been 18 documented deaths in the United States attributable to using the Daikon Shield, she said. “But these sort of figures are just not available in Third World countries.”

The risks from using any I.U.D. were now too high to warrant their use. Her organisation and other women’s groups would advise women to stay clear of them.