'Sani Imilla' potatoes are displayed during a potato festival in the highland region of Tiwanacu, some 70 Km (43 miles) of La Paz, Bolivia April 27, 2008. The humble potato -- long derided as a boring tuber prone to making you fat -- is being re
'Sani Imilla' potatoes are displayed during a potato festival in the highland region of Tiwanacu, some 70 Km (43 miles) of La Paz, Bolivia April 27, 2008. The humble potato -- long derided as a boring tuber prone to making you fat -- is being rediscovered as a nutritious crop that could cheaply feed an increasingly hungry world. Peru and Bolivia have more than two hundred different types of potatoes. Reuters

A 22-year-old woman from Honda, Colombia, had inserted a potato in her vagina as a contraceptive and suffered from lower abdominal pains. On examination, doctors found that the potato that she had used as a contraceptive had grown roots in her vagina.

According to Columbia Reports, a large news website in Columbia, Carolina Rojas the patient's nurse had explained that the girl had used the potato as a contraceptive, as her mother had advised her to do so. The woman's name has not been disclosed; she stated that her mother had told her to use a potato as a technique to avoid pregnancy and she believed her.

The potato had germinated and had grown roots within the vagina of the woman. Doctors successfully removed the potato without a surgery and even told the young woman that she would not experience any "lasting physical effects." According to Mail Online, the medical staff was shocked at the advice given and they criticized her mother for it.

Medical Daily reported that according to Michigan State University's "A Guide to Growing Potatoes In Your Home Garden," potatoes thrive in the dark as they are tubers. The leaves require sunlight but the tubers grown underneath the soil, in the dark.

The site also found that this is not the first case when such terrible contraceptive methods have been used. Such cases have been reported in Columbia and other parts of South America. The site points out that this is due to a lack of sex education among the masses.

A study conducted by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare that among teenagers there is low awareness about teenage pregnancies and contraception methods. Though sex education is compulsory in Columbian schools, Medical Daily states that people still consider it a taboo to talk about. According to Columbia Reports, Maria Eugenia Rosselli, Colombian Ministry of Education's sociologist, stated that parents, too, are hesitant to talk and educate their children about sex. This ultimately leads to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

There a lot of myths about contraceptive methods and the list of bizarre contraceptive techniques adopted by women are shown in the video below.

Sources: YouTube/engenderhealth