Officials investigating laboratories that are hiding potential abortifacient effect of morning-after pill

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 23, 2007 / 09:13 am

Officials in Argentina are investigating the laboratories of Monte Verde and Biotenk, which market the “morning-after pill” under various brand names, for hiding from consumers the potential abortifacient nature of the drug.

The organization Portal de Belen, which runs five homes for single mothers in the city of Cordoba, said directors of the Monte Verde laboratory have already been interviewed by prosecutors of the city of Cordoba.

Monte Verde markets the pill under the name “Segurite” and company officials “were charged with excluding from the indications that come with the pill that Segurite acts by ‘impeding the implantation of the fertilized ovum in the uterine wall,’ a mechanism which Monte Verde itself admitted to the Ministry of Health.  The indications state that the pill prevents ‘implantation of an ovum,’ without mentioning that it is ‘fertilized ovum,’ that is a human being in his first days of life.”

Likewise, Portal de Belen said that at the beginning of September, officials of the Biotenk laboratory, which markets the pill under the name Norgestrel Max, would be charged as well with hiding the same information from the public, “with the complicity of state officials.”

According to Aurelio Garcia, President of Portal de Belen, “There are 27 products on the market in Argentina with essential information that is inaccurate about their mechanisms.”  These products include not only “the morning-after pill,” but also oral contraceptives, inject able hormones, intrauterine devices, known for their abortifacient effect that is denied by local laboratories.