Birth control may put a stop to unwanted pregnancies, but it can also kill you. That's a message being brought to court in an Ontario class action lawsuit against Bayer, the manufacturer of two commonly prescribed oral contraceptives, Yaz and Yasmin.
According to the CBC article, more than 23 women died suddenly from blood clots allegedly caused by the birth control pills the women were taking.
Though all oral contraceptives carry warnings about clotting and other potential side effects, that risk is exponentially increased in Yaz and Yasmin, both of which contain the synthetic progestin, drospirenone.
Health Canada has found that pills containing drospirenone put the clot risk at 1.5 to 3 times higher than that of other birth control pills. While the risk of getting a blood clot on so-called older types of oral contraceptives is rare (one in 10,000), that risk jumps to three in 10,000 for those taking Yaz or Yasmin.
In the U.S., Bayer has paid out more than $1 billion to settle "thousands of lawsuits." However, the drug company claims it stands behind the safety of its products.
Bayer will appear in court on September 4.
Do you take birth control pills? Are you worried about the potential side effects? More birth control pill news.
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