Why Canada is Sponge-worthy

Just in time for Spring Break and Snoop Dogg's latest Girls Gone Wild auditions comes the long-awaited, much-anticipated reintroduction of the contraceptive sponge via Canada and the Internet.

Wired News reports:

After an eight-year absence, the Today Sponge is once again available in Canada and can be purchased on the Internet (www.birthcontrol.com), thanks to Allendale Pharmaceuticals, a startup business in New Jersey that bought rights to the Today Sponge from the drug company that discontinued it.

Allendale began selling it this month through Feelbest.com and Birthcontrol.com, both based in Canada. The company hopes the sponge will be approved by the FDA and available in U.S. stores within a year.

The article notes that the sponge was not pulled because of safety concerns; the FDA had some issues about the factory that the Today Sponge was made at and then-producer Wyeth chose to shut down the operation rather than upgrade the plant to FDA specs.

As the operator of www.birthcontrol.com, Barbara Bell, put it, "I just feel that women the world over should have access to affordable, safe contraception," Bell said. "It's so much more than just a business. Margaret Sanger is my hero, and she was a champion of birth control."

Good for her, though let's acknowledge that Sanger is no saint; for a good discussion of Sanger's much-debated views on eugenics, go here.