Yaz and Yasmin suspected in 23 deaths

Birth control pills cause blood clots in women

Yaz and Yasmin, the only birth control pills that contain progestin drospirenone. (CBC)

According to CBC News, the birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin are suspected of being the cause of death for 23 Canadian women. These pills have a risk of blood clots 1.5 to 3 times as high as other birth controls because they contain the progestin drospirenone. Action has been taken against the maker of the birth-control pills, Bayer. However the company stands firmly behind its products.

At least 23 Canadian women who were taking two of the most commonly prescribed birth control pills in the world have died, CBC News has learned.

According to documents obtained from Health Canada, doctors and pharmacists say Yaz and Yasmin are suspected in the deaths of the women, most of whom died suddenly from blood clots.

One of the women, 18-year-old Miranda Scott, was working out on an elliptical machine at the Okanagan gym at the University of British Columbia when she collapsed and died three years ago, said her mother, Chip McClaughry, who is involved in a class-action lawsuit against Bayer, the maker of the birth-control pills.

"She fell backwards into the person behind her and then, I guess, when she was on the ground she said, 'I can't breathe,' and then, you know, she was gone," McClaughry said at her home in Delta, B.C.

Full story available here.