Sheldon J. Segal | Norplant developer, 83

Sheldon J. Segal, 83, leader of the team that developed the contraceptive implant Norplant, died Oct. 17 at his home in Woods Hole, Mass., of congestive heart failure.

Dr. Segal believed strongly in a woman's right to control her reproduction, and more than 120 million around the world have used the long-acting contraceptive developed under his guidance. He also helped create the Mirena intrauterine device, copper-bearing IUDs, and contraceptive vaginal rings.

He recoiled from suggestions by editorial writers and commentators that Norplant, which is surgically inserted into a woman's upper arm and releases the hormone progestin for up to five years, could be forced on mothers on public assistance or used to prevent teenage pregnancy on a mass scale. "Norplant should never be used for any coercive or involuntary purpose," he said in a 1990 letter to the Washington Post.

Norplant was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2002 after court cases in which women said they had not been adequately warned of side effects, which included irregular menstrual bleeding, headaches, and weight gain. Mirena, introduced in 2003, is an intrauterine device that delivers small amounts of hormone directly to the uterus.

After receiving a doctorate in embryology and biochemistry at the University of Iowa, he joined the nonprofit Population Council in 1956 and rose to direct its biomedical laboratories. In 1970, he formed the International Committee for Contraception Research. In 1991, he became chairman of the Population Council's institutional review board.

He was an adviser to Congress, the World Health Organization, and the U.N. Population Fund. He wrote or cowrote more than 300 publications and served on the editorial boards of six scientific journals.

- Washington Post