Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1993                   TAG: 9306020015
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: GENEVA                                LENGTH: Short

U.N. AGENCY APPROVES INJECTED CONTRACEPTIVE

The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that Depo Provera, officially known as DMPA, did not increase the risk of breast, cervical or ovarian cancer. It said there was evidence that the contraceptive, which is injected every three months, protected women against cancer of the uterus.

"The results are very good news for millions of women around the world," said Olav Meirik, of WHO's human reproduction program.

Depo Provera is used by 9 million women in about 90 countries, mainly in the developing world. It accounts for three-quarters of all injectable contraceptive use and has an effectiveness rate of 99 percent.

Developed in the 1960s as an alternative to the daily contraceptive pill, it prevents ovulation by blocking the hormone gonadotropin.

Depo Provera became available in the United States in January after the Food and Drug Administration accepted the findings of new trials and reversed a 1978 ruling that it might cause breast cancer. - Associated Press