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35 Tulsa L.J. 651 (1999-2000)
Potency and Pregnancy in Japan: Did Viagra Push the Pill

handle is hein.journals/tlj35 and id is 665 raw text is: POTENCY AND PREGNANCY IN JAPAN: DID VIAGRA PUSH THE PILL? I. INTRODUCTION For the first time in history, Japanese women can legally buy birth control pills (the Pill) for contraceptive purposes.' The Pill was offered on the market to the Japanese public beginning in September 1999, thus culminating a nine-year battle by Japanese pharmaceutical companies to gain approval from the Japanese government for the sale of the low-dose contraceptive? In June 1999, the manufacturers of oral contraceptives finally received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) for sale of the Pill by prescription.' The approval process through this nine-year period is best described as a slow moving train which gained unexpected speed as it neared its destination, fueled by an unexpected source. Rumors abound that approval of the Pill in Japan was spurred by the swift approval of Viagra in that country.4 In contrast to the approval process for the Pill, the wonder-impotency drug for men gained approval from the same MHW in a record six months,5 a bullet train of bureaucratic speed and need.6 Although the Pill has been available in the United States for almost forty years, Japan is the last industrialized nation to approve the safety and legality of the pill for its citizens.7 The contrast between the slow rate of approval of the Pill and the speedy approval of Viagra certainly highlights the vagaries of the Japanese government's drug approval process. Even more importantly, in light of the fact that birth control issues are so closely related to human sexuality, gender equality, reproductive rights, abortion, and population control, the contrast focuses attention on several areas where Japan may face change or criticism.8 The Japanese government's inconsistency in the approval process of the Pill and Viagra is not easily explained 1. See Drug Makers Introduce Birth Control Pills in Japan, NATIONALPOST, Sept. 3, 1999, at C02. News of the legal sale of birth control pills was reported worldwide on Sept. 3, 1999. See, e.g., News in Brief, THE CHRISTIANSCIENCEMONrrOR, Sept. 3,1999, at24; WorldNewsTonight(ABCtelevisionbroadcast, Sept. 2,1999) (transcript #99090203-j04); THE TIEs (London), Sept. 3, 1999. 2. See Birth Control Pill Goes on Sale in Japan, DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR, Sept. 2, 1999, available in LEXs, News Group Files. 3. See Japan Health Ministry Approves Birth Control Pills, ASIA PULSE, June 17,1999, available in LEXis, News Group Files. 4. See World Watch, TMIE, Sept. 13, 1999, at 16. 5. The link between birth control pill approval and Viagra was made onABC WorldNews This Morning, Sept. 3, 1999 (transcript #99090303-j03) and in newspapers. See, e.g., Popularity of Pill Not Likely to Soar in Japan, THE DESEREr NEwS, Sept. 1, 1999, at A06. One theory suggests that Viagra won approval in record time because the country's mostly male politicians wanted access to the drug for their own use. Kay Itoi, The Great Viagra Emergency, NEWSVEEK, Feb. 8, 1999, at 39. 6. The bullet train, or shinkansen, is the high speed express train linking major cities in Japan. 7. See Birth Control Pill Goes on Sale In Japan, supra note 2. 8. See Anika Rahman, Symposium: Women's Rights as International Human Rights: Toward Government Accountability for Women's Reproductive Rights, 69 ST. JOHN's L. REv. 203 (1995) (discussing the relationship between access to birth control and reproductive rights).

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