By Jess McCabe | 24 May 2007, 16:35

A birth-control pill that completely gets rid of your period has been approved by the US authorities, reports CNN.

While many women might be keen to throw out their tampons/pads/keepers, I’m not sure I really get the appeal of this drug.

Let’s look at the evidence.

1. Half the women dropped out of the clinical trial. Not a good sign.
2. It can cause irregular bleeding or spotting for as long as a year. Only one in three women reported they were free of this problem by the last month of the trial
3. The study did not monitor whether the pill prevented headaches, tender breasts, cramps or other problems some women experience during their period. So, no evidence that it actually helps those women you’d think would want to ditch their periods.
4. It makes it harder to tell if you get pregnant.

On top of this, I wonder about the reasoning behind wanting to stop menstruation. As University of New Hampshire sociologist Jean Elson tells CNN:

For most women menstruation is a normal life event — not a medical condition.

Photo by AnArgAmAnte, shared under a Creative Commons license