Conflicting information from the United States and the Flemish government has raised doubts over the fate of millions of dollars’ worth of contraceptives stored in Europe, reportedly set to be burnt. Where are they now? Have they already been destroyed?
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On Thursday (11 September), the Trump administration told The New York Times that the stock of contraceptives stored in Geel, Belgium, had been destroyed as planned without giving any details of when and where this had happened.
However on Friday the office of Jo Brouns, Flemish Minister for the Environment, claimed to Euronews that the stockpile is still intact in the warehouse.
“This morning, the Department of Environment’s enforcement division carried out on-site inspections and confirmed that no consignments had been sent for incineration,” a ministry spokesperson said.
As the medicines fall under the incineration ban for reusable goods, the US government would need to apply for an exemption and pay the corresponding fee before destroying them. The ministry confirmed no such request has been made.
The stash is reported to include more than 50,000 intrauterine devices, nearly two million doses of injectable contraceptives, and more than two million packets of oral birth control.
The contraceptive products were originally intended for distribution to lower-income countries by the dismantled United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Since the destruction plan was announced, multiple civil society organisations, including International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) and the United Nations Population Fund, have attempted to buy the contraceptives to prevent their disposal.
According to IPPF, the destruction of these materials prevented more than 1.4 million women and girls in Africa to access life-saving care.
Approximately 77% of the stock, many with expiration dates between 2027 and 2029, was intended for use in African nations including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia.
