On 17 March 2025, the consumer interest TV programme Radar devoted a segment to pregnancies and various health complaints that occur with the use of copper intra-uterine devices (IUDs), and more specifically the Ballerine IUD. After this broadcast, the Dutch Reporting Centre for Adverse Effects of Medical Implants (MEBI) received 94 new reports. Most of these reports (88) were about a copper IUD. Pregnancies were reported a total of 47 times. Of the reports relating to pregnancies, 13 involved a Ballerine IUD.
Detailed information on the reports will follow at a later date, after thorough analysis. The numbers mentioned here are based on the reports up to 31 March 2025.
Voluntary reporting
MEBI is a voluntary reporting system for suspected side effects of- and health problems related to implants. Besides copper IUDs, these include for example cardiovascular implants, knee and hip prostheses or breast implants Because reporting to MEBI is voluntary and given that it dependents on the health problems being reported, the number of reports might not actually represent how often a health problem actually occurs.
Both members of the public and care providers can make reports
Suspected health problems as a result of implants (including copper IUDs) can be reported on this web page. Both members of the public and care providers can report.