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Contraceptive Sponge

  • 07-10-2008 3:34am
    #1
    WomanInWhite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 68 ✭✭


    Just wondering if anyone knows if the contraceptive sponge is availible to buy in Ireland and where I might get it if it is.

    I have been looking online but there is not that much information availible.

    Thanks!


Comments

  • #2
    Nevyn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 43,045 ✭✭✭✭Nevyn


    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/warning-on-us-birth-control-467705.html
    Warning on US birth control

    Sunday May 08 2005
    LARISSA NOLAN
    A CONTRACEPTIVE hailed as revolutionary in the US will soon be on the market in Ireland, but family planning doctors say it comes with a health warning.

    The controversial Today Sponge has just been relaunched in America and makers say it will be sold in Britain and Ireland by the end of the year.

    The Today Sponge is a polyurethane disc, laced with spermicide control nonoxynol-9, that is placed over a woman's cervix. Once the most popular contraceptive in the US, it sold 250 million before it was dramatically pulled from sale in 1995. Women loved it as it allowed sexual spontaneity and did not contain hormones.

    But Dr Sheila Jones of the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) warned the Sponge has some serious drawbacks. She drew attention to its low rate of effectiveness - 13 to 16 per cent of women using the Sponge will become pregnant over the course of a year. The contraceptive pill is 97 per cent effective. Also, the Sponge is simply a form of birth control and does not prevent STDs or Aids.

    Dr Jones said: "When you're looking at birth control, obviously the most important factor is how effective it will be in preventing pregnancy. The Sponge is very low - some trials showed it could be even as low as 25 per cent."

    Dr Jones added that tests have shown that the spermicide used in the Sponge, nonoxynol-9, can be an irritant.

    "Some tests found that very large doses of nonoxynol-9 can cause cuts in the vagina, which would heighten the risk of contracting Aids."

    During its 12 years on the market, the Sponge was even more popular than condoms.

    But in 1995 it was removed from stores when the FDA - the US body governing drugs - ordered upgrades to the manufacturing plant that the former makers deemed too expensive to carry out.

    The Sponge itself was never found to be unsafe, and last week, the FDA reapproved the Sponge, allowing it to return to US store shelves.

    The new makers, Allendale Pharmaceuticals, are preparing to launch in Britain, where they already have a retail licence. They then plan to roll it out over the rest of Europe.

    The Sponge will have to be licensed for sale by the Irish Medicines Board.

    It is not listed as an option on the www.ifpa.ie website or on www.thinkcontraception.ie. I can't seem to find any more info if it was licensed here or not. I suggest you ring your local chemist and ask.


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