TresSugar

US STD Rate Highest of Developed Countries - and Rising!

TresSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:00:49 -0800

Let's talk about sex . . . or else! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reluctance to talk about sex is keeping STD infection rates on the rise in the US, especially among teens. After practically being eradicated, syphilis is resurgent, and chlamydia and gonorrhea are also at "unacceptably high levels." Thanks to our prudishness, the US has the highest rate of STDs of any developed country in the world.

It's no secret that abstinence-only sex education is popular in America. Thankfully, after confronting the fact that abstinence-only education does not effectively reduce STD infection rates, some school districts are moving to abstinence-plus education, which reasonably stresses the importance of using protection if a teen is sexually active.

Of course, parents can also do something to reduce STD risks by providing a little sex education at home. When I asked a while back, more than half of TrèsSugar readers said their parents avoided having an awkward conversation about contraception. Maybe these new statistics will remind parents that reducing health risks are worth a few uncomfortable minutes.

Hilarious or Horrifying? Trojan Can Prevent Rude Moviegoers

TresSugar — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:39 -0800

When lovers not planning on making a baby start to get busy, the last thing they want to think about is what type of person their potential child would be three decades down the road. But in this commercial, Trojan wants to remind you that you should wrap it up, lest you end up with a child who turns out to be the most obnoxious grown man ever to enter a movie theater!

Avoiding children, annoying or not, is a major reason for using protection, but this commercial sends a somewhat confusing message about contraception. If this guy weren't annoying, would it have been a good thing that his parents didn't use a condom? Do you think this is an effective message, or does it miss the mark?

Uh Oh! Counterfeit Condom Factory Discovered in China

TresSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0800

Condoms might top the list of things that should never be counterfeited. Unfortunately, there may be as many as one million ineffective knock-off condoms on the market in China right now.

Four people were arrested this week at a factory allegedly producing and selling condoms that provide little to no protection against disease or pregnancy. What's worse? Authorities said they found "bare-chested" employees using vegetable oil to lubricate the condoms that they then packaged without any sterilization. Whoever came up with this fake factory sounds like they were fulfilling some sort of bizarre fantasy.

This story is scary enough to make someone outside of China paranoid. If you're freaked out, just make sure you never buy condoms labeled as "Jisson, Durex. Rough Rider, Six Sense and Love Card."

More Teens Getting Pregnant; Who They Are May Surprise You

TresSugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

We often hear media stories about teenagers from poor and single-parent homes getting pregnant.

Research conducted for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, however, concludes that only 28 percent of people who reported giving birth or fathering children as teens lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line, and only 30 percent said they were living with a single parent.

Although teens from poor families headed by single mothers are disproportionately likely to become teen mothers, "teen pregnancy is not limited to a particular racial group or socio-economic status or a particular family structure," says Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign.

In other words, parents and schools need to be vigilant about teaching teens either to abstain from sex or to have safe sex - even upper-middle-class teens. After 15 years of a decline in teen pregnancy, the number of teens giving birth has gone up in the last couple years. The reason? More sex and less contraception, says Albert, especially because teen boys are less concerned about contracting HIV.

Sponges, Chastity Belts and Douches, Oh My!

TresSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0800

From the early-Egyptian contraceptive sponge to the horrifying Lysol douche of the Great Depression - man and womankind has been trying to find ways to keep from getting preggers for quite a while. Check out some of these devices below and go to Newsweek if you're interested in learning more about the history of birth control.

View Slideshow ›

Condoms vs. the Pill: Which Do You Prefer?

TresSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

When it comes to preferred methods of contraception among women, condoms have now caught up to the contraceptive pill in the UK. According to a new survey, condoms and the pill are equally popular among women, and those who said they preferred condoms cited its ability to protect against STDs. Of course I'm sure many cautious women use both methods, and with all the other contraception options out there, maybe you use neither! But if you had to choose between the condom and the pill, which do you prefer?

70,000 Women a Year Die From Unsafe Abortions

TresSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

After three years of research, the New York-based Guttmacher Institute has concluded that although contraceptive use has lowered the number of abortions worldwide, unsafe abortions still account for a staggering 70,000 deaths a year, particularly in the developing world. More than half the deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of unintended pregnancies.

"In much of the developing world," said the Institute's president Sharon Camp, "abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."

The report calls for easing developing nations' abortion laws, citing that laws banning or restricting abortion don't keep it from happening, they just make abortion unsafe and either self-induced or performed by unskilled people in any unhygienic conditions.

The Guttmacher Institute's recommendations: expand access to family planning and modern contraceptives and to legal and safe abortion, and improve the coverage and quality of post-abortion care.

Their recommendations have been criticized by Deirdre McQuade, a policy director for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-life Activities who also castigates priests or nuns who make referrals to family planning services, which she says veers from church policy. "We need to be much more creative in assisting women with supportive services," she said, "so they don't need to resort to the unnatural act of abortion."

Many Blessings: Christian Sect Believes Its Kids Will Fix the US

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

It's not uncommon to say children are a blessing, but Quiverfull (the name of a small movement among Christian Evangelicals) families take the belief very, very seriously. So much that they eschew all forms of birth control, even natural methods, and 10-children families have become the norm. Is it so there's enough love to go around? Partially. But more disconcertingly, it's because they believe the answer to America's "moral decay" is a return to pre-industrial revolution times when contraception was incompatible with Christianity, patriarchy reigned, children attended homeschools, and families were self-sufficient. And they - or their children - plan to lead the movement.

Despite a wide concern that Christianity is dying in the United States and Europe, Rev. James McDonald, the pastor at an Illinois church filled with Quiverfull families, is not worried about his numbers. "In denomination after denomination their children are leaving in mass exodus," McDonald said, "and this is a major, major problem, especially when most families only have two or three children."

"Only" two or three children? Is McDonald saying that, while other Christian denominations decline, they will rise? Are Quiverfull families trying another kind of "family planning"? Find out after the jump.

Yaz and Yasmine: Are These Birth Control Pills Safe?

TresSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:00 -0700

Anne Marie Eakins, a 34-year-old history teacher in Grafton, OH, developed blood clots in both lungs in 2007 and even lost partial use of her right lung. The cause, as she sees it? The newish oral contraceptive Yaz, the top-selling birth control pill in the US, which she switched to after a decade of using different kinds of birth control pills without incurring health problems. She is now suing the makers, Bayer HealthCare pharmaceuticals.

Like 74 other plaintiffs against the makers of Yaz and its sister pill, Yasmine, which was introduced a few years before, Eakins decided to make the switch in part because of the added benefits touted in multimillion dollar ads that ran on television. Yaz, which contains even less estrogen than low-estrogen Yasmine, is advertised as a product that could reduce acne and severe PMS, in addition to preventing pregnancy. How do Yaz and Yasmine differ from other birth control pills? To find out, read more.

Although both Yaz and Yasmine come with the standard warning that the hormones in birth control pills (estrogen plus progestin) can increase the risk of stroke and blood clots in a woman's legs or lungs, lawyers representing the plaintiffs and regulatory agencies claim that Bayer's ads overstate the products' effectiveness and don't adequately warn of possibly higher risks of clots unique to Yaz and Yasmine.

They say Bayer doesn't take into account research that indicated that a hormone unique to the products (drospirenone) increases the likelihood of clots compared to birth control that has the standard levonorgestrel hormone. (Lawyers claim Bayer relied on its research findings in Germany that concluded there is the same risk, over Dutch and Danish research that had the opposite conclusion.) Other criticisms are equally troubling: that the manufacturing plants in Germany responsible for the hormones in Yaz and Yasmine differ in quality control from what is required for US products; that studies conducted were performed with an ethnically homogeneous group, not taking into account blood-clot risk factors in a more ethnically variable US market; and finally, that Yaz and Yasmine are marketed for conditions like PMS, for which the drug is not approved.

I considered switching to these kinds of birth control pills because of the claim that they prevented severe PMS. Do you believe the marketing for products like Yaz and Yasmine or do you do your research before you buy?

Want to Save the Planet? Use Contraception

TresSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Society's focus on green technology is a waste of time, according to the London School of Economics. What we really need to do to prevent climate change is to boost access to contraception.

Economists claim that family planning is the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions. Every $7 spent on improving access to contraception would reduce carbon emissions by more than a ton, which is a great return. Conversely, you need to spend $30 on green technologies to see the same reduction.

The analysis focused on fulfilling current contraception needs that go unmet. If people who want access to services like the birth control pill got it, unintended births would be reduced by 72 percent, and thus future carbon emissions would be reduced. Fewer people, less carbon.

The London School of Economics isn't the first to point out that reducing the number of children you have is a powerful way to cut back your total environmental impact. Earlier this year, an environmental adviser for the UK controversially called on the government to provide better access to contraception and abortion as a crucial piece of its anti-global-warming policy.

Do you think getting contraception to people who want and need it should be the focus of climate change policy?