1 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: Bunjelung Calcoton woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,319 Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the 6 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present. 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Thursday, 8 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 2: the first of February. I'm Sam, I'm Lucy. 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 3: According to the National Museum of Australia, today marks sixty 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 3: three years since the oral contraceptive pill became available in Australia, 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 3: giving Australian women certainty and control over their fertility for 12 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 3: the first time. 13 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 2: In today's deep Dive, tda's fact checker Lucy will take 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 2: us back in time to hear about the development of 15 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 2: the pill, how far we've come and how far we've 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 2: got to go. But first, Lucy, what's making headlines this morning. 17 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 3: Australia has ranked fourteenth in a global anti corruption index. 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 3: The Corruption Perceptions Index from watchdog Transparency International ranks countries 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 3: based on public perceptions of government corruption Denmark topped the 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 3: list as the least corrupt country, while Somalia was rated 21 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 3: lowest at one hundred and eighty. Transparency International credited Australia's 22 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,919 Speaker 3: new National Anti Corruption Commission, but called out whistleblower protections 23 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 3: and political donations, which said require comprehensive reform to ensure 24 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 3: they're effective. 25 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 2: Prices or inflation rose by four point one percent over 26 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 2: the year to December twenty twenty three. That's according to 27 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 2: the laatest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The 28 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 2: consumer price index rose point six percent over October to December, 29 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 2: which is the smallest quarterly growth since March of twenty 30 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 2: twenty one. However, this doesn't mean prices of falling. It 31 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 2: means prices are increasing at a slower rate than they 32 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 2: were previously. Housing and rental costs were still signing magnificant 33 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 2: contributors to the rising prices over the quarter. 34 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 3: Universal Music Group has published an open letter accusing TikTok 35 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 3: of bullying. Universal claims TikTok has tried to intimidate them 36 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 3: by removing songs by quote certain developing artists from the 37 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 3: platform ahead of an expiring contract between the music publisher 38 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 3: and the social media giant Universal represents thousands of your faves, 39 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 3: including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Steve Lacy. TikTok responded 40 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 3: by accusing Universal of quote putting their own greed above 41 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 3: the interests of their artists and songwriters. 42 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 2: And today's good news. For the first time, a live 43 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 2: newborn great white shark has been cited by a filmmaker 44 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 2: and a PhD student who were looking for sharks in California. 45 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 2: Gray White's are gray on top and white underneath. However, 46 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 2: this shark was roughly one point five meters and completely white. 47 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 2: Scientists or explorers have never spotted a baby great white shark. 48 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 2: This was the first time, and student Philip Sterns said 49 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 2: they were reviewing the footage when they realized they had 50 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 2: indeed filmed a newborn sharp. Oral contraceptives aka the pill 51 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 2: have been around for so long that they've become a 52 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 2: huge part of everyday life for a huge chunk of Australians. 53 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 2: They're broadly accessible through a prescription from a GP. In 54 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 2: some cases, resupplies of the pill are even available without 55 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 2: the need for a GP visit, like in several New 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 2: South Wales pharmacies. But that wasn't actually the case for 57 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 2: most of human history, right, That's right. 58 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 3: For as long as people have had sex, they've been 59 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 3: experimenting with contraceptives. Lots of historical contraceptives are just unspeakable. 60 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 3: People have been putting things inside or on themselves in 61 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 3: order to pret in order to prevent pregnancy for a 62 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 3: long long time. And truly I feel blessed to live 63 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 3: in the twenty first century and not in ancient Egypt. 64 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 3: I'm a woman in my twenties with no children, and 65 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 3: that's my choice, and it's within my control when or 66 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 3: if I choose to have them. The same would not 67 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 3: be true if I was born in the nineteen thirties 68 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 3: rather than the nineteen nineties. 69 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 2: So when did the pill come onto the scene? Like, 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 2: what was the kind of context that led up to 71 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 2: the development of the product. 72 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 3: We have to go back to the story of Margaret's Sanger. 73 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 3: She was an American woman who was born in the 74 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 3: eighteen seventies. She founded the Movement for birth Control. In fact, 75 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 3: she actually coined the term birth control. She was the 76 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:30,679 Speaker 3: sixth kid of eleven and her mother died aged fifty, 77 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 3: and Margaret Sanger believed The reason her mother died was 78 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 3: that her body had been just broken down by many, 79 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 3: many pregnancies. She then worked as a public health nurse 80 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 3: in New York City. So in the early twentieth century 81 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 3: in New York City, she saw firsthand the impact of 82 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:54,119 Speaker 3: unwanted pregnancies, particularly on low socioeconomic status families and migrant women, 83 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 3: and she helped care for women who went to desperate, 84 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 3: often life threatening lengths to terminate their pregnant. She was 85 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 3: radicalized very early on to believe that then needed to 86 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 3: be away for women to be able to control their fertility. 87 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 2: What a radical idea. 88 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 3: I know, but it genuinely was radical. It wasn't until 89 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 3: she was in her seventies actually that everything fell into 90 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 3: place for her to realize her biggest stream, which we 91 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 3: have records of her writing about for a long time, 92 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 3: what she called a magic pill to prevent pregnancies. 93 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 2: So Margaret Sanger was a nurse, but not necessarily a scientist. 94 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 2: How did she actually start the process of developing the 95 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 2: magic pill? 96 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 3: So in the early nineteen fifties, she actually tracked down 97 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 3: a scientist named Gregory Pinkus. Gregory Pinkus was at this 98 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 3: time holding an annual conference where scientists could present their 99 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 3: discoveries about human hormones. And she was also very luckily 100 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 3: in contact with Kathleen McCormick, who was a wealthy widow 101 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 3: who wanted to spend her deceased husband's money on research 102 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 3: into contraceptives. It was really it was kismet. All these 103 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 3: things came together at the same time. So, with Kathleen 104 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 3: McCormick's funding, Gregory Pinks worked with another doctor, doctor John Rock, 105 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 3: to develop the first birth control pill. 106 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 2: And what did that pill look like? Is it the 107 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 2: same as what we've got in pharmacies today. 108 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 3: It actually was a lot stronger than the pill that 109 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 3: you can get today, unnecessarily stronger. The pill that you 110 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 3: can get at the GP today is less powerful in 111 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 3: that sense. So, as I said, it was tested in 112 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 3: the nineteen fifties, and it was tested on women in 113 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 3: Puerto Rico, which is a US territory. Many women in 114 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 3: Puerto Rico were not told what they were taking. They 115 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 3: weren't necessarily told that it was an experimental drug or 116 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 3: what effects it would have, and a significant proportion of 117 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,239 Speaker 3: those women had fairly serious side effects and three died. 118 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 3: But there was actually no investigation into whether the pill 119 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 3: caused their deaths. 120 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 2: Right, and when we've had this discussion with tda's audience, 121 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 2: both on the podcast but also on Instagram context of 122 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 2: whether a male contraceptive pill should be developed, we've had 123 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 2: feedback that, you know, people experienced side effects like migraines, 124 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 2: hormonal imbalances, or mental ill health that they eventually have 125 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 2: traced back to the pill. So it doesn't sound like 126 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 2: much has changed in terms of side effects, although a 127 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 2: world without the pill altogether feels like a long long 128 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 2: time ago. How did the pill then come to market 129 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 2: and become a staple? 130 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 3: I think in terms of those side effects in the 131 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 3: absence of any other option, people kind of decided that 132 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 3: was a price that they were willing to pay, or 133 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 3: that people would be willing to pay. So the US 134 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 3: Food and Drug Administration the FDA approved the contraceptive pill 135 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty and it came to Australia the following 136 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 3: year under the name a NOVELA. One thing actually that 137 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 3: I found in researching this in the FDA's history of 138 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 3: approving the pill is that they actually noted that the 139 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 3: pill was approved a couple of years before we understood 140 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 3: the dangers of thelidamide, which was a morning sickness pill 141 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 3: that ended up causing fairly serious physical disability and death 142 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 3: in babies born to women who took it. The dangers 143 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 3: of thlidamide were discovered a couple of years later, and 144 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 3: this history that I read suggested that if the pill 145 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 3: had come up for approval after nineteen sixty two rather 146 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 3: than before, it actually might have been subject to more 147 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 3: regulations or a stricter approvals process, maybe the formula could 148 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 3: have been changed. It's hard to speculate on a year 149 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 3: or two's difference in terms of regulations, but this history 150 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 3: cited the thlidamide case as a very important turning point 151 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 3: in the kind of regulations that they would do around 152 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 3: these kind of drugs, and the pill just kind of 153 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 3: slipped under the. 154 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 2: Wire right before that, and that was the subject of 155 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 2: the apology to survivors that the government issued a couple 156 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 2: of months ago. We did a podcast episode on that. 157 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 2: I'll put that in today's show. Notes. So that takes 158 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 2: us until the kind of mainstream development of the pill 159 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 2: and how it came to market in the US. What 160 00:08:58,000 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 2: was it like to try and get the pill in 161 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 2: those early days in Australia. 162 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 3: When the pill came to Australia in nineteen sixty one, 163 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 3: it had a twenty seven and a half percent luxury 164 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 3: tax tacked onto it, which is very steep. It was 165 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 3: officially only available to married women, although I read two 166 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 3: first hand accounts from women who were not married in 167 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 3: the nineteen sixties about how women would pass around the 168 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,559 Speaker 3: names of doctors who would prescribe it to single ladies. 169 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 3: In nineteen seventy two, following pressure from the newly formed 170 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 3: Women's Electoral Lobby, the new pm GoF Whitlam actually scrapped 171 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 3: the tax and put the pill on the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme, 172 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,479 Speaker 3: which is how the government subsidizes the price of some medicines. 173 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:43,720 Speaker 3: One article I read in the lead up to this 174 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 3: described the pill's arrival in Australia as dropping like a 175 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 3: bomb into women's lives. And you can imagine going from 176 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,839 Speaker 3: basically no control to some control over your fertility. 177 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 2: Well, talk to me about those changes. So what changed 178 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 2: more broadly in kind of a social ste once that 179 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 2: happened in. 180 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 3: The years immediately following the pill becoming available, Women were 181 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 3: more and more able to participate in the workforce. There 182 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 3: were other social changes happening that push this forward. But 183 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 3: you know, we can't discount the impact of being able 184 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 3: to control when you got pregnant and how many children 185 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 3: you had. So per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, women 186 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:22,599 Speaker 3: made up less than a third of the workforce in 187 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 3: nineteen sixty six, and as of last month, women make 188 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,839 Speaker 3: up close to half of the workforce. 189 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 2: So why don't we finish this episode in a place 190 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 2: that we've often come to in these discussions before. We've 191 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 2: talked about the side effects of oral contraceptives for women. 192 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 2: Where are we at with male contraceptives? Is there any 193 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 2: medical equivalent to the pill for men? Has there been 194 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 2: any recent developments in this space. 195 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 3: There are a few different studies in progress. There's a 196 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 3: gel that's being developed to put on your body to 197 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 3: lower your sperm count temporarily. There's a pill being developed 198 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 3: that would temporarily prevent the body from making more and 199 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 3: even a pill being developed that could make sperm swim 200 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 3: more slowly. So that's one that TDA has actually looked into. 201 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 3: We made a video about it and we'll pop that 202 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 3: in the show notes. But as a general rule, it 203 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 3: really does seem like the pill for men is a 204 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 3: long long way away. 205 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 2: Sixty three years to the day since the oral contraceptive 206 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 2: pill became available in Australia. Lucy, thank you so much 207 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 2: for joining us on today's podcast. Thanks Sam, That's all 208 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 2: I've got time for on today's episode of The Daily OS. 209 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 2: Welcome to February. We're in the second month of the year. 210 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,719 Speaker 2: Thanks for sticking with us. We'll be back again in 211 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 2: your years tomorrow morning. Until then, have a wonderful Thursday. 212 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: Already. 213 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 3: And this is this is the Daily This is the 214 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,559 Speaker 3: Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense.