
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 8, 1994                   TAG: 9407110192
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NORPLANTS TROUBLESOME TO REMOVE

PHILADELPHIA - Since Norplant went on the market in 1991, more than 900,000 American women have shed their fears of pregnancy by using the revolutionary five-year contraceptive.

But troubles are surfacing for the method, which involves implanting six hormone-releasing capsules into the upper arm.

Increasingly, doctors and contraceptive experts are complaining that once women decide they no longer want the method, the Norplant capsules can prove exceedingly difficult to take out.

Last month, 200-some Norplant users became part of a class-action suit filed against Wyeth-Ayerst. Represented by a Chicago attorney, the women said they suffered scarring and severe pain when doctors attempted to remove their matchstick-sized Norplant capsules.

In a statement issued this week, Wyeth-Ayerst said it will contest an Illinois state court's certification of the lawsuit as a class action.

by CNB