The answer is possibly. It seems a review of the risks of the pill suggest that if taken for took long, the chance of becoming infertile by the age of 35 increase.

However this has been criticised. In fact one commentator has even gone as far as suggesting that public health officials in the US are frightening women into believing they are the cause of the their own infertility.

The pill became the great sexual leveller for women when it was introduced in the 1960s. Research over the years has produced no discernible evidence to support infertility or other problems. One supporter of the pill suggests that women’s infertility may relate to the individual’s own physical inability to get pregnant.

It’s also known that women over the age of 35 are at more risk of being infertile or bearing a disabled child.

One other area which is more likely to have an infertility related problems is Sexual Transmitted Diseases.

However the Australian authorities are taking the problem of STDs very seriously by paying young people to have tests, with particular emphasis on chlamydia.

Young people between 16 and 30 will be paid AS$10 if they agree to take part. The tests will be offered by pharmacies who will also receive AS$10 for each test carried out.

When asked about this, Dr Parker from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the Australian National University told local reporters: “Absolutely … chlamydia has a significant cost to the community.”

He added: “Treating infertility when women are in their 30s, for example, is a very expensive process.

“What we are trying to do is raise awareness, provide access to young people to testing, but also to show that chlamydia is something that anyone can get that is sexually active.”