ENOVID: AMERICA’S FIRST ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of involving the extended community in risk assessment of the applied sciences. To do this, the paper will be discussing the history of the first oral conceptive in America. Specifically, it discusses the Nelson Pill Hearings which was a very publicized trial intended to evaluate the safety of the oral contraceptive Enovid. The conclusion of this case study is that failing to involve the extended community (mainly, women taking the pill) resulted in a large distrust of authority. This distrust in the scientific community leads to their opinions being largely ignored and damaged the relationship between women and their doctors at the risk of women’s health. It was not until post-normal science ideals were implemented, that more women felt they could trust the safety of the product they were using. Failing to recognize the importance of involving the extended community in scientific breakthroughs created a barrier for the extended community to benefit from said scientific breakthroughs.