Considering all the problems associated with existing drug-based forms of birth control, why would anybody consider taking a less effective kind, yet that's exactly what FDA advisers recommended this week.

An advisory panel voted against setting a standard on how often future drug-based contraceptives would have to fail in order to deny them federal approval, because those less-effective drugs might offer some other benefit, like reducing a woman's risk of blood clots or a stroke.

Apparently, less effective contraceptives have already made their way into the American drug pipeline, even though the FDA's own staff remains divided over whether a mandatory failure rate should be established.

And some advisory panel members, obviously wary about making a decision, claim the market -- controlled largely by the drug-addicted practitioners of conventional medicine -- will set the standard, albeit an informal one.

Although they're convenient and amazingly effective, birth control drugs are very dangerous and you should avoid them like the plague. That's especially true because there are plenty of safer alternatives available, none of which involve taking a drug.