Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich has begun a campaign against Essure, the Bayer-owned birth control procedure. Brockovich wanted Essure to be removed from the market as complaints continued to mount about the implant. Essure was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002.
She told ABC News, "There's something wrong with the device, in my opinion. It's a form of permanent birth control, and women's organs are being perforated ... It's ridiculous that at any level we try to defend this. If 30 women did suffer harm for unknown reason, we'd investigate. We have thousands injured. I don't think it's safe."
ABC News reported that 800 women of the 700,000 women that decided to have the Essure implant for birth control had already complained with the FDA.
Essure is the flagship product of birth control device maker Conceptus. The latter was acquired by Bayer Corporation in April this year for USD 1.1 billion. According to news website Qmed.com, the buyout would help boost the profits of Bayer's birth control unit. Before it was acquired, Conceptus posted total revenues of USD 34.1 million and profits of USD 2 million.
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