this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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Sounds potentially dangerous. Though in the current US climate maybe less dangerous than asking a doctor for prescription.
The type of pill that was approved is the progestin-only "mini pill" which has a much safer clinical profile than the more common-in-the-US combination pill that has both progestin and estrogen. This type of pill is already available OTC in over 100 other countries. The US is just really behind the curve on just about anything to do with reproductive rights and care.
Dangerous in what way? According to the article:
Dangerous in the way that it's a hormonal treatment.
Melatonin is an oral hormone too, doesnt really mean its unsafe inherently, i think maybe its best to listen to the expert panel for now
Obviously. Though I'm not particularly fond of US "experts". If some respectable EU authority says it's (mostly) safe, I'm gonna believe it's (mostly) safe.
This shit is already over the counter in much of Europe.
Did you do any research whatsoever about this before making such a confident statement about the "danger"? Or are you just going based on your feelings?
It's not over the counter where I live (in Europe and EU) and there is no outrage about using anticonception, in fact it's common for 15 yo to get on the pill, so there are no political or cultural reasons for it to be prescription. That's what I was going on. Any more questions or projections from your side?
Ohhhh what was I projecting? Tell me more.
You're conveniently ignoring the rise of the far right across Europe, and who are running countries like Hungary and Poland. There is a reason that those two counties, in particular, are rated extremely poorly with regards to access to contraception. And it's not because of some perceived danger.
I said "much of Europe."
I'm going to respectfully step in and ask you two to please disengage with one another. This comment chain has strayed pretty well into "not nice" territory, and isn't inspiring confidence that further back and forth will lead to productive discussion on this topic.
In the future I'd ask that you please try to remember to assume good faith from others here whenever you can. It's pretty clear to me that you're both fundamentally on the same side with respect to the importance of reproductive rights, there's no reason this had to turn into a fight in the first place.
[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/08/contraceptive-pill-will-be-available-over-the-counter-for-the-first-time]
Here you go, approval in the UK from 2021.
Um actually, he said an EU country. C'mon, get your shit together!
Thanks for the article though. I had the same initial reaction as this guy, including being less than trustful of American experts. Any extra evidence is welcomed!
When folks seem to discount the role of the FDA, I like to remind them of Thalidomide. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide_scandal] Countries in Europe approved it for prevention of morning sickness. The US blocked it's use.
In 2021 they already didn't have to abide by EU rules (and they stopped abiding pretty much instantly about a lot). Look, I never said it's not safe. I also didn't say it's safe. I live in a country where there's no shame in telling your gynecologist that you want on the pill, so this is of no concern to me whatsoever, I just shared my opinion based on the facts I just mentioned.
I won't advocate for using over-the-counter anticonception in my country, because here the system works. In US, it's definitely a good thing because some religious zealots feel like a woman's womb is their own property. The doctor knows you better than a pharmacist and if you can safely get a prescription, it's always better.
Hundreds of other countries in the world sell these over the counter. That means millions of users across dozens of years across the globe. As long as you follow the directions on the packet, like any other medication you can buy OTC, it is safe. Validated by millions of people.
If only we had an agency full of thousands of career experts in reproductive medicine and beaurocrats who are empowered to regulate medicines, and do extensive testing and review before allowing them to be sold to the public.
Oh well...
If only US healthcare wasn't so profit-driven that anyone and anything can be bought.
Oh well...
prove the malfeasance you allege
There's potentially a conversation worth having here about how drug approvals work in the US and EU, but if you actually want to have that conversation please do so assuming good faith, and don't resort to slinging accusations back and forth. Is your comment a sincere request for information? If so, you may want to consider rewording it to be a better lead-in to a productive discussion. Disengaging is also, of course, a totally valid option here.
what have I accused anyone of? my comment is a request for the person who is using the fact that sometimes some people are corrupt as evidence that in this particular case these particular people are corrupt. it's vague, witch-hunty and tries to create the appearance of bad actors without presenting any valid reason to believe that anything untoward has taken place. If you or comment OP have evidence that this particular drug is known to be dangerous and that people have covered it up I'm all ears, I live for that kind of shit. But this drug is well-known, well-studied and has been globally available since 1960. Of course anywhere you find power you'll find corruption but this, as they say, ain't it fam and vague appellations to the existence of corruption in the general case is such a weak argument that it borders on bad faith in and of itself.
Actually, I agree with you. I can see how you might think I don't given only the context of this comment chain, though. For added context, I've already asked the other users involved to please disengage, but it was in a different chain so you may not have seen it. I'm really honestly not trying to single you out.
My own opinions aside though, in the future if you see another user who you believe to be participating in bad faith, please report their comment. Reporting helps give us more context for what might seem to simply be escalatory language, and also helps surface things to the mod team much more rapidly. We do want the beehaw community to self-police, but we also want this to remain a nice place without long threads of unproductive argument.
Not even just the doctors, I keep hearing tales of pharmacists at specifically Walgreens just refusing to fill prescriptions.
Hence why next time I talk with my doctor I'm switching to somewhere else.
I don't understand the assumption made. How does OTC meds inherently make something "dangerous?"