BOISE-- The drug maker Pfizer announced it is recalling its birth control pill Lo-Ovaral-28 and its generic counterpart.
Pfizer decided to recall 1 million birth control pill packets after random testing showed the pills had the wrong level of active ingredients and may have been packaged out of order. That means the pills may not be effective in preventing pregnancies.
The recall effects 14 lots of Lo-Ovaral-28 and 14 lots of Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol.
"There may be some unintended pregnancies there and that is going to make some very difficult choices for a lot of people I'm afraid," said Dr. Brook Thomson, an OBGYN with Saint Alphnosus.
Dr. Thomson says for women taking either of the Pfizer birth control pills the first thing they need to do is see if their pill packets are part of the recall. You can see the recalled packets here.
If you are impacted by the recall, Dr. Thomson says you should stop having unprotected sex. He says people need to use another form of birth control, like condoms.
Dr. Thomson says the recall brings up pregnancy scares but encourages people to wait a little while before taking a pregnancy test.
"I would wait about one week past the time your period should have been there and then take that pregnancy test. You'll be much more likely to actually have a positive you may be catching it too early if you take that pregnancy test much earlier than that," said Dr. Thomson.
A spokeswoman for Pfizer told the Associated Press the problem was caused by both mechanical and visual inspection failures on the packaging line. She said the problem has been corrected.
Pfizer says patients with the affected lot numbers should return them to their pharmacy. KTVB contacted a handful of pharmacies Wednesday morning and so far none of them had patients calling or coming in.
