Kawartha Lakes Mums: Will KawarthaLakes Birth Rate Boom? [Pill Recall Reflections]

Sunday 14 April 2013

Will KawarthaLakes Birth Rate Boom? [Pill Recall Reflections]

Kawartha Lakes Mums Alysena Pill Recall - Did It Affect You?

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq ordered an investigation after a manufacturer recalled defective birth control pills but allegedly failed to take steps to notify the public until five days later.

April 8, Health Canada issued a recall of Alysena-28 then widened the recall because packages could contain two weeks of white placebo pills and just two weeks of pink contraceptive pills — instead of one week's worth of placebos and three weeks of contraceptives.See pictures below.

Public Reactions to Botched Alysena Recall Process

image Alsene -28 contains 3 rows of pinkpills 1row white

Angry women across Canada are posting comments to pharmacy Facebook walls demanding free pregnancy tests and wanting to know why the recall had not been publicly announced immediately. Some of these women are on Birth Control pills, because other medications for their illnesses could be very harmful to an unborn child. Could an immediate public alert have prevented all problems? No. Some problems? Maybe. Any silver linings to this cloud? A few.Who should foot the bill for the medical expenses? What do you think?

Alysena Pill Recall - What To Do

image Alysena-21 containing three rows of pink pills

Canadians using Alysene should use a non-hormonal method of birth control, contact their health care provider for medical advice and return unopened packages to their pharmacist.
Alysena-21, which is manufactured at the same facility, is not part of the current recall as these packages don't normally include a row of the white (placebo) pills. However, because the product is made in the same facility, Health Canada and Apotex are working together to verify this product as well. In the meantime, Canadians are encouraged to check to make sure their packages of Alysena-21 contain three rows of pink pills.Consumers are also strongly encouraged to report any medical problems associated with the use of Alysena-28, Alysena-21 or other health products to Health Canada.

Alysena Pill Recall- 3 Silver Linings

What silver linings could there be to the Alysene Pill Recall? It is an ill wind that blows no good, and there are some silver linings to be found here.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq ordering the investigation, could bring about greater responsibility in posting recall notices.
Reawakening people to the fallibility of protecting their eggs with one basket.
Increased births and pregnancies increase jobs in health occupations.

Can you think of more silver linings? Share your ideas below.