I always thought that pharmacists know a lot about the medicine they sell. But it seems that this is not always the case in China for conctraceptive drugs: The Center for Reproductive Health Technical Instruction and Training in Shanghai conducted a survey among 100 pharmacies and found that only 9% of the pharmacists knew that morning-after pills are different from regular contraceptive medicine!

This has of course some negative effects on women who buy these products and get a wrong advice. The Shanghai Daily writes that this lack of expertise has contributed to an outrageous rate of failed contraception. Another survey shows that over 90% of the teenage girls who sought abortion had directly bought morning-after pills in pharmacies. But over 80% failed to prevent a pregnancy, because they took morning-after pills in the same way as the contraceptive pill…