4 tr
daily nebraskan
page 6
friday, december 1, 1978
Medical community questions contraceptive's usefulness
By Kim Wilt
A new contraceptive, claimed by the manufacturer to
be "so effective and easy to use that hundreds of thou
sands have found it the preferred contraceptive" has been
causing some questions within the medical community.
Encare Oval, a vaginal insert containing the sperm
killing ingredient nonoxynol 9, is being sold in drugstores
and pharmacies in Lincoln.
Pharmacists at both K-Ray Pharmacy and Walgreen
Drug said Encare Oval is sold at their stores. Both agreed
that the contraceptive was probably as effective as contra
ceptive foam or cream.
"It has the same ingredients as Delfen foam," the phar
macist at K-Ray pharmacy said.
"It cannot be as effective (as claimed) because often
it Is not used according to directions," the Walgreen Drug
pharmacist said. "It's a little less messy than foam or
cream," he said, but otherwise it is the same.
Be realistic
He estimated that Encare Oval is probably 100 percent
effective if used correctly, but is realistically closer to
being 90 to 95 percent effective.
A pharmacist at the University Health Center said the
pharmacy does not stock Encare Oval because "the sta
tistics show that it is not more effective than a condom
on contraceptive cream or jelly."
She said the effectiveness of Encare Oval was probably
comparable to cream used alone, which she said was ap
proximately 90 percent effective.
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"We don't usually recommend just cream or jelly used
alone," she said.
If a condom is used with foam or cream, she said, the
rate of effectiveness rises to approximately 90 to 95
percent, she said, and this could be comparable to Encare
Oval used with a condom.
consumer byline
A clinic counselor at Planned Parenthood of Lincoln
said the clinic does recommend the use of Encare Oval.
She agreed that it was probably as effective as foam
which, she said, was 97 percent effective if used every
time.
Advice given
When women come in for birth control counseling, she
said, "we tell them to use the contraceptive cream with a
condom."
The main attractions of Encare Oval as opposed to
foam are its convenience. Because it does not require an
applicator, it is easy to use, she said.
Eaton-Merz Laboratories, the manufacturers, have
tested the product in West Germany, she said, and have
claimed that the product is 99 percent effective-used
without a condom. However, she said, "We don't know
when the study was done, when the women were tested,
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or what population was tested."
She said that an independent firm is currently testing
the product in the United States, but no results are avail
able yet.
Regarding the effectiveness of Encare Oval, she said,
"there are two types of effectiveness." The first type is
theoretical use- if the product is used properly every time,
and if it is used every time a couple has intercourse. Foam
would be 97 percent effective in this type, she said, as
would Encare Oval.
The second type of effectiveness is actual use, she said,
and foam (and Encare Oval) are approximately 99 percent
effective in this category, she said.
The manufacturer is claiming the product is 99 per
cent effective in actual use, she said.
Journalism school
VDT plan depends
on fund-raising
The arrival of video display terminals, for classes in the
UNL School of Journalism will depend on financing and a
decision of which system to buy, according to a journal
ism professor.
"When we get the VDTs depends entirely upon fund
raising and negotiations with suppliers," said Mike Strick
lin, assistant professof of journalism. Approximately
$85,000 has been received toward the goal of $200,000.
The tentative date for acquiring VDTs is fall 1979.
"The main goal we have for the VDTs is to use the
equipment in existing courses such as beginning report
ing and typography, instead of making new courses," he
said.
"This is a. slower but better process for a more sophis
ticated system " he said.
"We are going to get the system all at once instead
of piece by piece," said Neale Copple, director of the
School of Journalism.
"The reason for this is because technology develops
so fast and we want to have a complete and updated sys
tem," Copple said. Copple says he expects to have approx
imately 30 terminals in the entire system.
According to Stricklin, a faculty planning committee
has been set up to deal with long-term responsibilities in
making UNL's VDTs a model system.
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