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Searle, a unit of Pharmacia Corporation sent a letter to doctors warning that misoprostol has been approved only to prevent ulcers caused by drugs, not to help induce abortion.
Failed attempts in other countries to induce abortion using an ulcer drug called misoprostol may be causing an epidemic of birth defects around the world. Misuse of the drug is increasingly common as it is improperly used as part of the RU-486 abortion drug process.
In Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines, the drug is readily available. An informal survey by the British magazine New Scientist has also revealed that abortions with the drug are taking place in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa and Indonesia.
In Britain and the US, those dispensing the abortion drug RU-486 also give misoprostol to induce contractions to expel the dead unborn child, although it is not licensed for this purpose. Searle, the maker of misoprostol, has condemned its use in chemical abortions methods. Searle, a unit of Pharmacia Corporation sent a letter to doctors last year warning that misoprostol has been approved only to prevent ulcers caused by aspirin and similar drugs, not to help induce abortion.
They warned women would face severe medical problems if the drug was misused as a part of the RU-486 chemical abortion process. It is legal, however, for doctors to prescribe FDA-approved drugs for unapproved uses -- so called "off label" use. The Searle letter noted: "Serious adverse events reported followingoff-label use of Cytotec in pregnant women include maternal or fetaldeath; uterine hyperstimulation, rupture or perforation requiring uterinesurgical repair, hysterectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy; amniotic fluidembolism; severe vaginal bleeding, retained placenta,shock, fetalbradycardia and pelvic pain."
Taking misoprostol on its own only induces abortions about 40 per cent of the time, so many babies are born after failed abortion attempts. Severalstudies in Brazil, where up to 75 per cent of abortions involvemisoprostol, suggest the drug causes birth defects such as fused joints,growth retardation and a condition known as Mbius syndrome, which ischaracterised by paralysis of the face.
One recent study found that out of 93 children with defects associatedwith Mbius syndrome, 34 percent of those infants had been exposed tomisoprostol, compared with just 4.3 per cent of the 279 infants in acontrol group.
Another revealed that 49 percent of infants born with Mbius at sevenhospitals in Brazil had been exposed to misoprostol, whereas only 3 percent of 96 infants born with neural tube defects had been exposed tothe drug.
"I think [these results] are real. Statistically they are highlysignificant," says Fernando Vargas of the University of Rio de Janeiro,who took part in both studies. Because the abortion drug is used secretly,it is hard to find out how many birth defects might be caused by it,Vargas adds.
Source: New Scientist Magazine (England); August 29, 2001
