Birth control pill recall amid pregnancy fear

Pfizer said on Tuesday it was recalling about a million packets of birth control pills in the United States because they may not contain enough contraceptive to prevent pregnancy.

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"As a result of this packaging error, the daily regimen for these oral contraceptives may be incorrect and could leave women without adequate contraception, and at risk for unintended pregnancy," according to a Pfizer statement on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

Pfizer found that some packets of the drugs had too many active tablets, while others had too few.

Oral birth control products use a series of 21 drug tablets and 7 inactive sugar tablets to regulate the menstrual period while providing contraception.

The birth control pills posed no health threat to women, Pfizer said, but it urged consumers affected by the recall to "begin using a non-hormonal form of contraception immediately."

The drugmaker said the issue involved 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets.

A company spokeswoman said the problem was caused by both mechanical and visual inspection failures on the packaging line, The Associated Press reported.

She said the problem has been corrected.

The pills were manufactured by Pfizer and marketed by Akrimax Pharmaceuticals and shipped to warehouses, clinics and retail pharmacies nationwide, the company said.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46217423/ns/health-womens_health/

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