Health risk of birth control for girls as young as 12
CONTRACEPTIVE implants, which could raise the risk of breast cancer, are being given to children as young as 12.
At least five health boards across Scotland have given long-term birth control to girls who are barely out of primary school.
Since 2010, more than 3,000 girls under 16, the age of consent, have had the slow-release devices inserted in their arms, sometimes without their parents’ knowledge.
The drugs have never been tested on children and are known to have side-effects in some adults, including nausea, depression, acne and headaches.
The medication’s small print also warns of a potential additional danger of hormone-dependent tumours (e.g. liver tumours and breast cancer).
Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust said: “The fact that the safety of these implants has not been established for girls under 18 means that health professionals are taking a massive risk with the immediate and long-term health of these youngsters.
“It is disturbing that parents frequently know nothing about the gamble that is being taken on the physical and emotional wellbeing of their daughters.
“Not only does prescribing the drugs to underage girls make it more difficult for them to resist sexual pressure from their peers, but it also makes them more vulnerable to exploitation by older sexual predators.”
It is disturbing that parents frequently know nothing about the gamble that is being taken on the physical and emotional wellbeing of their daughters
The plastic implants, which go by the brand name Nexplanon, release progesterone to prevent pregnancy.
But their safety and efficacy in adolescents under the age of 18 has not been established, according to the manufacturer MSD.
Figures released under Freedom of Information laws show that health boards across the country have prescribed 3,562 of the implants to under-16s since 2010. Greater Glasgow and Clyde has fitted 1,523, Grampian 397, Ayrshire and Arran 382, Lanarkshire 291 and Borders 131.
And, among them, they admitted having given prescriptions to at least 20 girls aged 12.
Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “If these concerns prove to be legitimate, I hope the Scottish Government will look at this as a matter of urgency.”
Asked if the company recommended its product for under-16s, an MSD spokesman said: “The choice and suitability of a contraceptive method for any individual should always be discussed with an appropriate healthcare professional.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said teenage pregnancy rates have fallen for the last four years.
He added: “While we would encourage any young person considering contraception to discuss this with their parent, there is no legal requirement to do so and patient confidentiality means that this information cannot be shared against the patient’s will.”
