The popularity of the morning-after pill Plan B has surged in the year since the federal government approved the sale of the controversial emergency contraceptive without a prescription.
Plan B sales have doubled since the Food and Drug Administration authorized the switch for women 18 and older last August, rising from about $40 million a year to what will probably be close to $80 million for 2007, according to Barr Pharmaceuticals, which makes Plan B.
"This is exactly what we hoped would happen," said Susan F. Wood of the George Washington University School of Public Health. As assistant commissioner for women's health and director of the Office of Women's Health at the FDA, Wood pushed for the switch.
On such an occasion, when we have reached this benchmark in our professional history, I can really think of only one appropriate thing to say.....
IN YOUR FACE LLOYD DUPLANTIS OF GRAY, LOUISIANA!!!!!
Some of you regular readers already know this, but Lloyd is responsible for the blog you see here today. It was a little over 2 years ago I got the professional shock of my life driving home listening to National Public Radio. That night Lloyd saw fit to tell the world that Oral Contraceptives were "the most dangerous chemical on the market" and that he didn't sell them "in the name of science." (Lloyd comes on around the 12 minute mark if you click on the link) I'll leave it up to you to theorize what Lloyd's (or someone behind Lloyd's) motives were by starting a push for publicity 40 years after what he thought was the most dangerous chemical on the market went on sale. Whatever they were I knew they weren't good. That night my little blog garden took a sharp political turn, and my hit count soon soared. Whatever you think of the Drugmonkey, he wouldn't exist without Lloyd Duplantis of Gray Louisiana.
I've actually had a lot of fun with the blog since then. Perhaps I should thank Lloyd. As should the women of America. Back to the Post:
Advocates attribute the increased use ... both to the easier access and greater awareness of the drug's availability (emphasis mine)
Awareness that was given a big boost every time a lunatic like Lloyd Duplantis of Gray, Louisiana would do something like get on National Public Radio and let people know they could trust those like him with their health care.
So congratulations Lloyd, you really did make a difference. I wonder if for your next campaign you could become an advocate for the insurance industry.
"A single-payer health system is the most dangerous idea on the market" has a nice ring to it, and I bet NPR would be happy to have you back.
Stupid Redneck.
1 comment:
Ya know, I don't know this Lloyd Duplantis, but I am pretty sure that BCP's are not the most dangerous chemical in the pharmacy. So I'll take your word about him. I think most women take Plan B as it's designed. For them, the risk of it being OTC is surely no greater than when it was RX. But there is another type of woman, the kind who is comes into my pharmacy to get Plan B every other day. Women who have no Plan A. Or are so paranoid that they want to take Plan B on top of their daily BCP. This can't be healthy. I'm not the morality police, and according to Duramed, there is no contraindication against taking Plan B every day. So I sell Plan B to the same women several times a week. I'm just waiting for one of them to keel over from a stroke or something. Won't that give Lloyd Duplantis something to talk about? And then the FDA will step in and Plan B will go the route of other good drugs (phenylpropanolamine anyone?) that were banned because a few people wouldn't take them as intended.
Post a Comment