New Delhi : Morning-after pills should be back on air. And not just private companies but even the Union health ministry should advertise them.

This is the view of a four-member expert committee set up by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recently to assess the pros and cons of allowing advertising of emergency pills. The Drug Controller General's office banned advertising of all emergency contraceptives like Unwanted-72 and I-Pill on January 11, 2010, after serious concerns were raised that the ads were promoting the drugs as regular contraceptives and misrepresenting abortion. The committee headed by Dr Sunita Mittal, head of the department of gynaecology in AIIMS, has told DCGI to allow advertising and proper use of emergency contraceptives even in rural India.

DCGI Dr Surinder Singh told reporters, "All forms of advertising of emergency contraceptives have been banned in India and the matter is being further examined. Concerns were being raised that women were popping the pills as a means to be free of tension after unprotected sex. Women also weren't being told that the pill should be popped as an emergency measure, not a routine one. The ban, however, won't be revoked for at least the next six months."

Ministry officials said, "Dr Mittal's committee feels that the pill should empower women and not be discriminatory. It has also suggested that may be I&B ministry can scan the ads before they come on air. The committee feels that women should be better educated about how to use, when to use and the side-effects of emergency pills." Seven different companies market emergency contraceptives in India which are being sold over the counter (OTC) since September 2005. The DTAB, however, did not revoke the OTC status as no woman would want to go to a doctor for prescription to buy I-Pills, defeating the basic purpose of an emergency pill.

India records 7 million abortions annually and 20,000 women die because of abortion-related complications. Only two in five of these abortions are safe. Emergency pills should be taken as early as possible not later than 72 hours after unprotected sex. Doctors strongly advocate against its indiscriminate use.

Around 8.2 million pills were sold in India last year. One of the most common misconceptions revolving around the drug is that it is equivalent to an abortion pill. However, this is not true because an emergency contraceptive works in the time frame before a pregnancy is established. The emergency contraceptive acts as an interceptive agent and not an abortive one. In the case of I-Pill, lack of proper knowledge about its functioning has led to women popping them as regular oral contraceptives that are taken on a daily basis.