VANCOUVER, October 9, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Dr. Ellen Wiebe, lead researcher in the RU-486 abortion pill study in Canada has admitted that she did not give the women in her study vital information on the possibility of death resulting from the drug cocktail. The current issue of the US National Catholic Register covers the death of the unnamed Canadian woman in the RU-486 trial. Reporter Celeste McGovern asked the lead researcher in the study if the participants were made aware of the warning letter of the G.D. Searle company – makers of misoprostol (Cytotec) – which warned that its ulcer drug, if used for abortions could cause “serious adverse events” including death.
Abortionist Wiebe disclosed that none of the women were informed about Searle’s physician alert. “They [Searle] were trying to get out of any liability,” Wiebe said. “It [the letter] was a terrible thing because we need [misopristol]. We use it for miscarriages as well as induction of labor.” Wiebe said the informed-consent papers were approved by five separate “ethics boards” in each of the five Canadian cities where RU-486 is being tested – Quebec, Sherbrooke, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Searle’s warnings were not included in the information because, Wiebe said, “They felt [the warnings] were not based on good evidence.” Wiebe also said “Searle rescinded that letter.”
However when McGovern spoke with Mark Wolfe, manager of external communications at Searle’s parent company Pharmacia, he denied that the Searle warning letter had ever been retracted.
See related LifeSite coverage: https://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/sept/010911.html#2 https://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/sept/010919.html#2 https://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/sept/010920.html#2
(National Catholic Register October 7-13 2001 https://www.ncregister.com/ distributed by Pro-Life E-News)