Big profits from dangerous drugs

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WORKER The development of contraceptive medicine is one of the great gains of working class women this century, providing for the first time in history a relatively effective means of controlling fertility.

But unlike other gains it remains in the control of the capitalist manufacturers, not that of the workers in drug companies or of women who use contraceptives. paper of the . Workers Socialist League. Available price 18p (includWCIV 6XX.

This well-known fact has been demonstrated yet again by the recent decision of the "Committee on Safety in Medicine" to give an 'all clear' for the use of the long term contraceptive injection, Depo Provera.

This drug, produced by Upjohn Ltd is still not approved for use in the USA because of the health risks attached to it.

However, restrictions on its sale in Britain have been lifted, despite its harmful side effects.

The short-term effects of woman worker Defend abertion rights, steel jobs, social services CALL A GENERAL STRIKE!

women fight closure D-P are similar to those of the Pill-headaches, nausea, and weight gain.

In addition it is known to cause irregular bleeding, possible loss of sex-drive and even permanent infertility.

But, because DP is effective for 3 months, it cannot be recalled once injected if worrying side effects appear.

in addition, D-P has been linked to cancer of the cervix, and even Upjohn concede that "patients receiving large doses of D-P continuously and for long periods should be closely observed."

These side effects are well evidenced, since DP has for some țime been used on Third World' women as a cheap form of controlling population increase.

Only just lifted Moreover, although the ban has only just been lifted in Britain, DP has in fact been used on women here for at least two years-most of these were working class or from the ethnic minorities-some of whom were injected without their knowledge or prior consent.

Naturally, Upjohn do not think any of these harmful sideeffects are any reason to stop. production of D-P.

There is a large market in the NHS to be won, and big profits to be made.

Capitalist drug only worried about side effects insofar as adverse publicity restricts sales.

As long as contraceptives and other medical preparations continue to be produced by capitalist concerns, where the first priority is profit, not the health of their consumers, working people must suffer.

Insufficient time and money are spent on research, and at the same time, the monopoly that drug companies have over the NHS in this country ensures that they can bleed the NHS dry while they make millions.

The case of Depo Provera proves once again the necessity for the opening of the books of the drug companies and their nationalisation under workers' management. Within the NHS committees of elected. workers and consumers must be established to run the service in the interests of the long-term health of working men and women.

IN NEXT WEEK'S ¡OCIALIST PRESS BEHIND CORRIE BILL COLLAPSE Panorama programme, only to hit back in Parliament with an implicit threat to resign if his Maude's vain efforts to bale out the leaky Tory showboat with a seive.

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