Japanese health ministry committee approved the sale of low-dose oral contraceptives in Sep./1999, almost 40 years after they were introduced in the United States. An application to approve the pill in Japan has languished in the health ministry for 9 years. Until the introduction in 1999, Japan was the only industrialized country to prohibit the use of the pill for contraceptive purposes. Approval of the pill was rebuffed in 1992 because of fears that it would lead to a surge in AIDS, and again in 1995 after a scare in Europe about a possible link with blood clots. In order to know the attitudes of young adults to low-dose oral contraceptives, the surveys were conducted in July and August 1999 just before the pill has started to be sold. About the question for the desire of use, 85% of young adults answered NO. Resistance to the pill in Japan has largely come from some doctors, who say they are worried about side effects. Mistakenly stressing the terrors of the pill's side effects implanted the idea that the pill is dangerous. These negative images are hard to wipe out. The male anti-impotence Viagra was approved in a matter of months, despite being linked with more than 130 deaths around the world since it went on sale in the United States in1998. We also asked the opinions about perceived sexual double standards.
