Two reports recently published in the British Medical Journal explain that women who were taking birth control pills containing drospirenone, for example, Yasmin and Yaz, were 2 to 3 times more likely to develop blood clots that were considered life threatening than those on alternative oral contraceptives. The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia has issued a warning.
The administration states that all oral contraceptives carry risk and that they will not remove Yasmin from the market but state that they are taking all new information seriously. Although there are rumoured connections between the drug and the death of a woman in Melbourne, the evidence suggests that the risk of this happening is so small. A British study revealed that out of 100,000 British women who took Yasmin, only 23 developed a blood clot. The study in the British Medical Journal has been described as flawed by Bayer (the pharmaceutical company behind Yasmin) and also the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.