On April 9, 2010, Bayer HealthCare has announced that it will add a new Yasmin and Yaz warning to the labels of the two birth control pills. The new warnings will contain information about the risk of blood clots faced by women who take Yaz or Yasmin.

Bayer is adding the new warnings following the results of two studies published in the British Medical Journal which found that women taking Yaz or Yasmin are twice as likely to suffer blood clots as those taking another popular brand of birth control. This increased blood clot risk could put women in danger of suffering other side effects of Yaz and Yasmin, including heart attack, stroke, deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.

The consumer group Public Citizen has called on the Food and Drug Administration to ban birth control pills that contain the hormone drospirenone such as Yaz and Yasmin. Despite the group’s efforts, neither Bayer nor the FDA have announced plans for a Yasmin or Yaz recall.