Scientists are close to finalizing development of a male birth control pill made of testosterone and progestin that can become a new contraceptive alternative to condoms perhaps. They will work in similar fashion to female birth control by lowering sperm count to a level not conducive for conception.
Almost one hundred percent of the men who have taken the hormone birth control pills saw successful results. The pills are not characterized as safe or effective for everyone just yet, particularly due to side effects and negative reactants, like alcohol. So meeting people at bars, one night stands etc are out of the question.
Diana L. Blithe, program director for contraceptive development for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development says:
“We have a number of irons in the fire. I think men actually do want to do this.”
As scientific advances are producing approaches that prove to pass the smell test, more and more individuals seem to be jumping on board. In October, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will sponsor a health conference, where some of these methods will be presented.
For the past four decades, women have a wide array of birth-control options available to them, including the pill, ring, patch and injection that are all more than 99 percent effective. Yet as far as science has progressed with female birth control, there are still only a couple of birth-control options available to men: primarily the condom and vasectomy. Some men complain that the former reduces sensation during intercourse, and others wince at the thought of the surgical procedure that the second requires (not to mention the second surgical procedure required if they decide they want to reverse it).
Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance (RISUG) is also starting to get recognition in the United States. Men receive an injection of chemicals that form a gel along the vas deferens, the pathway that transports sperm. The gel can last for 10 to 15 years. During that time it both reduces the number of sperm making the trip, and also physically disables the ones that do make it safely through the passageway.
The major concern with vasectomies, the only form of male contraception other than condoms, is that they are not always reversible, a risk many men are unwilling to take. According to the researchers involved, RISUG solves that problem. At any point the man can receive a second injection that dissolves the sperm-blocking gel and reverses the contraceptive.
The RISUG method has been in clinical trials in India for several years, and recently U.S. researchers took notice and will start testing it out here. Elaine Lissner, director of the Male Contraception Information Project in San Francisco, bought the rights to the technique and will repeat the clinical trial process in the U.S. in hopes of readying it for FDA approval.
Now that baby boomers and post-baby boomers make up the majority of men needing contraception, 13% to 80% of men (depending on the country and study) express interest in using a new male method. A recent study of over 9,000 men in nine countries on four continents showed that more than 60% of men in Spain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil expressed willingness to use a new male contraceptive. These men would like to relieve their partners of some of the contraceptive burden in their relationship or would simply like a more reliable backup to condoms.
Sources: The Male Contraception Information Project and
Written by Sy Kraft