Birth Control for Men: Why the Wait?

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/06/hormonal-contraceptives-men-why-wait

As Father's Day approaches, I can't help but think of contraception. Nearly every year I read an article promising that a male hormonal contraceptive is "just around the corner!". Yeah, right. At least, in the US.

There actually IS a male contraceptive implant similar to Norplant, which was 100% effective in preventing pregnancies among its human trial subjects. But the companies that produced it, Schering and Organon, stopped investigating male contraceptives after Schering was bought by Bayer. There's another contraceptive on the horizon though: RISUG. RISUG, which stands for Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance, is a one-time injection directly into the vas deferens. The injection coats the inside of the vas with a polymer that breaks the sperms' tails and ruptures their cells, making them incapable of fertilization. In effect, it's a vasectomy without the surgery. RISUG is being tested in India, and so far, patients report is is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy and there are no adverse effects. Also, since it's a one-time procedure, there's no pills to remember to take, or condoms to break, so it's more reliable than other forms of birth control. And if a man decides later he wants to have a child, the procedure is (theoretically) reversible with an injection of a substance that breaks down the polymer, though this has not been tested in humans yet.

So does that mean it'll someday be offered in the US? Well, maybe. The problem in the US is two-fold. Firstly, pharmaceutical companies are not pushing on research to make solutions like RISUG available in the US. This means that most of the R&D funds are coming from the National Institute of Health. Secondly, there's a perception that men don't actually want to shoulder more of the responsibility for family planning because the benefits to them are not as pronounced as they are to women. This is undoubtedly one of the things hindering private investment. Douglas Colvard, a program director at a reproductive health non-profit, told Scientific American that at the end of the day, it's not men who are going to get pregnant. A man can still walk away from a pregnancy. And for that reason, a successful male contraceptive might have to offer benefits other than birth control, such as reduced hair loss or increased metabolism.

A male pill might have to be easier on the body than female contraceptives, too. Women have long complained of weight gain, moodiness, and other birth control side-effects, but despite that, 62% of US women of reproductive age use contraceptives. A recent clinical trial for a male contraceptive delivered via injection (similar to Depo-Provera for women) was ended early despite promising early results due to participants' complaints about side-effects such as depression, increased libido, and mood changes.

More at the link --

:kick:

give to another person when an unplanned pregnancy is the result. Over and over on those reality / Bridezilla shows I see young men state that their bride will get pregnant asap and the young women tells him no. I can see an unscrupulous husband lying to his wife about the birth control.

I'd love to see it available as an option, but for me there would still be a condom involved no matter how much he swore he'd had the shot. I trust nobody.

For what it's worth, you're essentially describing the same situation that has existed for men for the past 50 years. When a woman says she's on the pill, we have to trust that she's telling the truth. When they don't and end up pregnant, we're generally told to suck it up and take responsibility for our actions...if we didn't want a kid, we shouldn't have screwed them, or should have used a condom.

Same goes for women. If you can't trust the guy, either don't screw him, or use a condom.

i've always told my sons "don't have sex with a woman you wouldn't want to have your baby", because it might well just happen! of course, boys being boys......:eyes:

"man can still walk away from a pregnancy."


WTF???!!!!



The USA has been, from the start, run as a cheap labor camp. White slaves were imported from the british isles as cheap labor. Once the cheap labor scam was stopped by the working classes, the rich had to use other schemes to keep their cheap labor coming in. Mass immigration is one way.

Male birth control would be FAR more effective and FAR more USED than female birth control. That would put a real crimp in the birth rate.

You can bet that behind the scene lobbyists have a hand in stopping male birth control.

Speaking from direct personal experience.

Had a colleague accused of getting a woman pregnant several years after he had one. She told one helluva story...and ended up paying his legal fees in lieu of a counter suit.

Works great!

One of the best decisions I've ever made.

That was a side effect.

ya. first evening/night was not fun for hubby.

The most obvious explanation is that there's no money in RISUG for big pharma.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_vasectomy



Note that the only research grant she's gotten so far for this procedure is for use as yet another female contraceptive.

"A recent clinical trial for a male contraceptive delivered via injection (similar to Depo-Provera for women) was ended early despite promising early results due to participants' complaints about side-effects such as depression, increased libido, and mood changes."

Oh, so it's OKAY for women to suffer side effects from birth control, but when men have similar, the study is dropped like a hot potato? Kinda makes the guys in the study look like whiny crybabies, huh?

What are these then?

our condom baby....