Persona non grata

LONDON - The makers of a new contraceptive device admitted last night that at least 450 women have become pregnant while using…

LONDON - The makers of a new contraceptive device admitted last night that at least 450 women have become pregnant while using it. The Persona, which has the backing of the Catholic Church, has been bought by more than 100,000 women since going on sale last October. It works by measuring hormone levels in urine to establish when a woman is at her most fertile.

Manufacturers Unipath told BBC1's Watchdog Healthcheck programme, screened last night, that they know of at least 450 pregnancies. The company has reduced its claimed success rate for the product from 95 to 94 per cent.