Developments in Brief : Spermicide Dangers to Women Questioned

Two new studies have turned up no evidence that spermicides cause birth defects, and researchers say the findings should relieve lingering doubts about the safety of this form of birth control.

These results are important, they said, because many women are concerned about the potential hazards of spermicides and because intra-uterine devices now are largely unavailable.

The latest studies looked for links between spermicides and five different categories of birth defect, but found none.

Earlier research had suggested that women have an increased risk of producing defective babies if they use spermicidal foams and jellies around the time of conception or during pregnancy. One of them, in 1981, linked spermicides with double the usual risk of Down’s syndrome, genital malformations, abnormally short limbs and tumors. Another suggested that spermicides are associated with spina bifida, a spinal defect.

But the latest two reports, published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, refute the earlier findings. They were written by researchers at Boston and Columbia universities.