Sheldon J. Segal, Who Developed Contraceptives, Dies at 83
Sheldon J. Segal, who led the scientific team that developed Norplant, the first significant advance in birth control since the pill, and who also developed other long-acting contraceptives, died at his home in Woods Hole, Mass., on Saturday. He was 83.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter Amy R. Segal.
Mr. Segal, an embryologist and biochemist, spent his entire career developing contraceptives, including the intrauterine device Mirena, but his most notable breakthrough came with Norplant.
The device, six tiny silicone-coated rods implanted surgically under the skin of the upper arm, released the female hormone progestin, preventing pregnancy for up to five years.
Introduced in 1991, it was immediately hailed as a solution to one of the main drawbacks of birth-control pills, the ever-present possibility that the user would forget to take one.
Norplant nevertheless had a stormy history. It turned out to produce side effects in some women that included unpredictable bleeding, weight gain and hair loss, and it was sometimes difficult to remove.
Politically, it was seized upon by conservative opponents of welfare as a possible means of enforcing birth control among the poor. Some judges began ordering that women convicted of child abuse be forcibly implanted with the device.
Dr. Segal was appalled. In a letter to The New York Times in 1991 he wrote: “I am totally and unalterably opposed to the use of Norplant for any coercive or involuntary purpose. It was developed to improve reproductive freedom, not to restrict it.” ...
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The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter Amy R. Segal.
Mr. Segal, an embryologist and biochemist, spent his entire career developing contraceptives, including the intrauterine device Mirena, but his most notable breakthrough came with Norplant.
The device, six tiny silicone-coated rods implanted surgically under the skin of the upper arm, released the female hormone progestin, preventing pregnancy for up to five years.
Introduced in 1991, it was immediately hailed as a solution to one of the main drawbacks of birth-control pills, the ever-present possibility that the user would forget to take one.
Norplant nevertheless had a stormy history. It turned out to produce side effects in some women that included unpredictable bleeding, weight gain and hair loss, and it was sometimes difficult to remove.
Politically, it was seized upon by conservative opponents of welfare as a possible means of enforcing birth control among the poor. Some judges began ordering that women convicted of child abuse be forcibly implanted with the device.
Dr. Segal was appalled. In a letter to The New York Times in 1991 he wrote: “I am totally and unalterably opposed to the use of Norplant for any coercive or involuntary purpose. It was developed to improve reproductive freedom, not to restrict it.” ...