Japan At Last OKs The Pill

After nine years of debate and foot-dragging, the Japanese government agreed Wednesday to make the birth control pill available by prescription for contraception.

The approval comes a few months after an uproar over the government's quick decision to allow the sale of the male impotence drug Viagra. Women's groups accused the government of a double standard.

Motoko Saotome, a Tokyo gynecologist who heads a grassroots group that pushed for approval, said Wednesday's decision was long overdue.

"Until now, contraception was something women had to ask men to do," Saotome said. "With the pill's approval, they'll be able to protect themselves on their own."

It may take some educational efforts before the pill is widely accepted, however. Japanese women have been largely kept in the dark about it.

A number of them, unsure of its side effects, say they don't plan to try it or don't see the need for it.

"I won't use it," said Tomoko Takeda, a 21-year-old student shopping with her boyfriend in Tokyo's posh Ginza district. "I'm not used to that type of thing, and really, I can do without it."

Government spokesman Toshiki Hirai said the Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Council submitted a recommendation for approval to the Health Ministry on Wednesday after determining the low-dosage birth control pill was safe for contraception.

Formal approval is expected by the end of the month, allowing the pill to go on sale by prescription by autumn, Hirai said. It will not be covered by public health insurance.

The most widely used contraceptive in Japan is the condom. Abortion is also common, with one in five pregnancies ending in that procedure.

The Health Ministry committee began deliberating use of the pill in 1990, although calls for the drug to be available for contraceptive use came long before that.

By contrast, Viagra was approved in January after a record-short six months.

More than 300 million women worldwide have used the pill, which has long been available in virtually all industrialized and developing countries. Medical opinion is also generally in favor of the drug, with recent studies finding no long-term ill effects.

In Japan, however, the pill had only been available for treatment of medical conditions such as ovarian cancer.

In dragging out its approval, Tokyo cited fears about the destruction of the nation's morals, the risk of side effects and even environmental harm from the hormones.