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Birth Control For Men Edges Closer
ananyo writes "Developing oral contraceptives for men has not gone as swiftly as researchers imagined in the early 1970s; they suggested at the time that a 'male pill' was not far off. But researchers now report a new way to make male mice temporarily infertile. Although the treatment is not ready for human use, the method avoids some of the pitfalls of earlier attempts. The technique appears to have a much more specific action than previous methods: it impairs sperm production by blocking a protein called BRDT. This protein was singled out as a potential therapeutic target five years ago because it only occurs in the testes, where it is required for the division of sperm cells. If the approach proves safe in humans, it would be an improvement over hormone-based methods of male contraception, which are not completely effective and cause side effects such as mood swings, acne and a loss of libido (abstract). On the downside, however, the compound 'shrank the mice's testes.'"
"No major side effects; it'll only shrink your testicles!"
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
On the downside, however, the compound 'shrank the mice's testes
Without commercial potential, what is this going to be used for?
As if there is a single man in the world would would take a contraceptive that shrank their testes....
I don't think this is close at all, more like a story of a drug with horrific side effects that thankfully they caught before human trials.
I could imagine that much of a testicle's volume is composed of hydrated protein and whatnot. Perhaps the loss in volume vanishes when the drug is discontinued.
Its not like most slashdotters are getting any.
Color me a skeptic, I guess, but I'm not too fond of the government's idea of "safe in humans".
But researchers now report a new way to make male mice temporarily infertile.
- it's called a swift kick in the balls. It works by blocking the ability to fuck for a little while.
You can't handle the truth.
Also known as ripping your testicles off through your wallet.
is the best birth control pill for males.
I get this strange, uncanny feeling that it won't catch on. From my own experience and opinion, men get squicked-out when it comes to changing one of their body functions. Women are "meh, okay," when it comes to oral contraceptives (in SOME cases--me, it didn't work out at all) simply because they have to put up with major, stupid-ridiculous body issues over their entire lives (menstrual cycles, D-cups, pregnancy, menopause--just to name a few) while a man's changes are more subtle, quicker, and easily controllable (facial hair, voice changes, etc.). It'd be nice to, as Samwise says, 'Share the load,' (har har) but it'd take some time and re-thinking of roles.
You want to know how to help your kids? LEAVE THEM THE F*&K ALONE. --George Carlin
It's like every new discovery ignores the last.
In other news it turns out that Men can not actually give birth.
.... of hammers or knives anywhere. (that hurt to write, yes)
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
I researched the availability of male birth control after the first time I ended up in the bedroom with a woman who was all "Oh you don't want kids, that's okay, I'm on the pill. No need to use a condom. NO. NO CONDOM! OKAY THEN, BUT USE THIS CONDOM, NOT YOURS! YOURS IS TOO UNBROKEN!"
Sounds silly, right? Apparently it's not that rare, and the older I get (or rather the older the girls I date get), the more common it gets.
So, I had to choose between exclusively dating girls half my age, find a way to put birth control under MY control since I don't want to procreate, or well, just live with it. A lot of guys choose the latter, which I suppose is why a lot of guys become fathers once their luck runs out. I'm not that kind of stupid.
So I just went with the other two options. Girls half my age are usually quite happy when they hear I've had a vasectomy, while a lot of older girls suddenly remember they need to wash their hair this saturday. Sunday. Every day. Every possible day I could ever meet them on, ever. They will have the cleanest hair ever, but they're not risking having sex with an infertile guy. Even though they supposedly are okay with that I don't want kids.
And women are surprised that we're confused by their behaviours...
Anyway I probably would have gone with the vasectomy anyway, but it would have been awesome to have a pill for when I was too young to legally do so. (25 here in Sweden.) So I really do hope that this thing takes off... This time. In difference of all the other ones, that have been in development for decades, and even undergoing human trials.
On the flip side that whole shrinking testes thing is a bit of a marketing problem if it persists in guys. Not for me per se, but generally guys seem to put a lot of stock in their nuts. I mean it's even made the language: "You've got balls." Having smaller balls makes you less of a man. No logic about that either... So most guys wouldn't buy this pill, even if it did work.
And men are surprised that women are confused by their behaviours...
A good way for women then to check if men are using the pill or just don't care!
Meh. Smaller potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Makes the whole thing a bit redundant.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
It's estimated that 1/2 of all pregnancies in the US are unplanned. Really, every child should be wanted by both parents. Willing parents are the best parents. If this world only had children that were wanted, the quality of child rearing that each child gets is going to be far better. Population explosion could possibly come under control as well.
-- Knowledge shared is power lost. -- Aleister Crowley
it's called try being married for twelve years.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Have a look at RISUG:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance
Development is much further along than this drug, RISUG could be available within the next five-ten years. It's available right now if you're in India and willing to be a guinea pig. No testicle shrinkage, though the Wikipedia article say there might be other drawbacks. The article says that there's no evidence for adverse effects though... which makes me wonder why it brings that up at all.
Its called testosterone.
It can be used as oral, patch or probably best a some injection. The studies noted a number of side effects that apparently have to be over come before it can be approved:
1. Increased libedo
2. increase in lean mussle mass
3. increased focus and drive
4. improved self image/confidence
The amounts we are talk or far from bodybuilding abuse amounts, but understably the side effects are too extreme. More likely the idea that men would say they don't want children and then do something about it in advance of the inception even might change society in as great a way as contraception has for women.
or sausage depending on your particular morphology...
Is is really a good thing to give people more options to only block pregnancy instead of pregnancy and STDs?
Blocking pregnancy is really not good enough for any contraceptive. When/if this came out I predict a significant increase in STDs.
Also we men really do not have the best track record for honesty related to sex. And "I am on the pill" is a statement that cannot be verified.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Wonderful idea.
Won't catch on
Too many men identify themselves as men through their ability to father children.
Because, as the news keeps reminding us, it's a scary world out there. Drug-Resistent Gonorrha If you need me, I'll be in my parents' basement.
Make love, not reality television.
Complete bs. Men hate having to use a condom. Men hate having to pay child support for a child they never wanted. Men love the idea of being able to have sex without worrying about that stuff.
I don't want this drug for the same reason I don't want a vasectomy. I love the feel of the sperm leaving my body.
Don't go telling me spermless liquid will feel the same. I don't believe you.
I'll stick with condoms and "Hey, it's your body, I can't tell you whether to have an abortion. But be aware that I wont pay a single penny towards a child that doesn't live in my house."
I'm sure it works better than trying to block the DDRT protein.
the new pill in spam emails?
By making your balls smaller it will make other things in that area appear larger.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
I hope they hang lower when they shrink due to less static acceleration of the ball bag.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Right now one big social problem is unwanted kids, public welfare, and family courts. The problem is there are lots if incentives for poor single women to get pregnant. They get better preferential treatment for things like housing, WIC, college, ect. If there was a male pill or reversible chemical vasecomy the change in social dynamics would change as severely as when the pill for women came out.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
It's not like she'll get pregnant from oral sex anyway...
That is what I did back in 2006....w/o insurance it was only 600$, with only 40$ :D
My count is officially '0' and I couldn't be happier.
"That's right...I said it."
And the fact that you don't realize that just shows how completely brainwashed^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hemasculated you really are.
Ever heard of giving up your parental rights? Was like never having a kid. that is what my father did to my mother when I was two and they divorced. She didn't get half his shit, she didn't get alimony and he didn't have to pay a dime in child support. Now he wants to be in my life...FUCK HIM!
"That's right...I said it."
never heard of condoms used with the pull out method
it's a shame I don't have a sex life, all I ask for is for some sex with a woman god damn it!
You know that the Church will forbid it's use especially in areas of the world where it will do the most good.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
While RISUG looks like a great procedure to me, intellectually, I am much more comfortable emotionally with taking a pill than with having a doctor inject a spermicide into my vas deferens.
I explicitly release the above into the public domain.
is structured in a way to implies that the government making things safer is a bad thing. It's a loaded comment with a surprising amount of things implied, and the sentiment behind it is why we get stuff like this.
Plus it's ridiculously well documented that the government makes things safer.
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RISUG? No way! Maybe you meant REISUB? It's sends SIGTERM before sending SIGKILL to all processes, and it reboots instead of trying to enter the debugger. /unixgeek
The reproductive imperative for all males of all species is to create offspring that will in turn reach reproductive age. I think there will be a deep seated reluctance to use anything that interferes with that.
Women, who now have essentially the ability to get pregnant when they want to, will have to ask a man for permission to become pregnant, maybe even beg for permission to be a mother. Do they actually understand the shift in reproductive power that unthinking feminists have been pushing for for so long? Do they realize they lose control of their own pregancies? No more Tom Brady and Giselle kinda thing. No more babies by philandering pretty-boy candidates. No more rock star accidents. No more (oops) having that second child because you want one and hubby maybe isn't so keen. And can a silly woman who depends on a man to take his pill trust him to do so? No. Think of pregnancy as revenge etc., an act of aggression. Male contraception empowers men in a way that women may not find so "fair." Nobody really knew the society-wide changes female contraception would bring starting in the 1960s. Perhaps we are not really projecting the changes easy male contraception in pill form will bring in the future as its benefits to men become widely perceived by them.
E Proelio Veritas.
No, I have never heard about that, because it doesn't exist. It's possible your mother *allowed* your dad to walk away without paying a dime in child support, but she most definitely had the legal power to get the money if she wanted. Unless you live in a strange country with laws that are very different from mine, and indeed all western countries I've heard of.
"Sure, Baby, I'm on the pill."
I haven't seen any evidence of a man giving birth.
Issues: You got 'em.
Its really not that damn hard to do folks.
You'll not feel the same way the first time you're horny and you forgot to take your pill
Balls of steel
It's a pill about the size of a sugar cube.
You put it in your shoe and it makes you limp.
<rimshot/>
Probably more to that story...
http://www.neystadt.org/john/humor/IBM-Mouse-Balls.htm
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I wonder what if any affect it might have in aging. From what I remember they are not sure what the link between enlarging of testies and aging. It's a far fetched link but something someone should look into!
Just eat enough genetically modified corn and you'll become sterile. Save $$$ It is already mixed into the public food supply so it shouldn't be hard to do.
We've had 'birth control for men' for THOUSANDS of years. They're called condoms.
The only problem is, some people are LIARS, especially men who aren't turned on by their (ugly) girlfriends/wives, and who can't get it up/keep it up, with a condom on, so they say "The condom broke" when their girlfriend/wife gets pregnant "by accident", and the idiots who tell us how effective contraceptives are, actually BELIEVE them, then reduce the effectiveness of condoms from 100% to 'only 98% effective'. They're actually 100% effective for MOST people, but because we have to cover up the dishonesty and totally ANECDOTAL evidence of the idiots who can't use them, we have the endless myth that condoms are less than 100% effective - they are not.
There is not one single piece of scientific research into condom effectiveness, it is ALL based on ANECDOTAL evidence, which is completely worthless, for the reasons I've explained above.
One look and she'll know the pills are working. No stopping you now.
fuck a pill, RISUG is a cheap, painless procedure. I think it can solve all unwanted pregnancy if it not artificially over priced in the US. It is in stage 3 human trials in multiple countries now. Also, no way do I wanna take something that can chemically or hormonally affect me. I feel bad when my gf has to be on birth control as it is the best option currently.
Balderdash!
I think it might make the world a better place.
Nancy, we remember you still...
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
For men: 1. DON'T have sex 2. Wear a condom if having sex For Women: 1. DON'T have sex 2. Make sure a man is wearing a condom if having sex. Pretty simple isn't it?
"Birth Control For Men Edges Closer"
I see what you did there.
I wish this would catch on in the US. However, because it's a one time application to start it, and a one time application to reverse it, it isn't the cash cow that the pharmaceutical companies want like The Pill is for women. They won't make money off of it in the long term with continued sales, so they don't put any time or research into developing it and making it available here.
My guess would be abuse of some kind. Not uncommon in those situations for the mother to sacrifice everything to get as far away as possible. That includes a termination of parental rights to get rid of the other spouse's right to see their kid and participate in decisions for them. Whether voluntary or involuntary, a judge would have to have signed off on it. Therefore, the most probable situation is abuse.
Doctor: I have good news and bad news.
Patient: Oh no, I knew it. Give me the good news first.
Doctor: Your sperm count is one.
Patient: That's the good news? What's the bad news?
Doctor: It's the size of a golf ball, it's angry, and it wants out NOW.
I'd rather deal with condoms than muck around with my hormone levels. The side effects for women are significant. The pill was a huge thing because it allowed the physically weaker sex to override whatever the man thinks of condoms and decide for themselves about having kids. But for most men, this is not an issue, because A: most woman can't rape most men (we're bigger and stronger), and B: men don't get pregnant. For me, it's at worst a financial issue, but I'm not stuck with a life-threatening parasite for 9 months (+20 years).
Sorry, didn't mean to be taken seriously. Just couldn't resist trolling on this, just this one time. Here is a better explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZ5boriRtE&feature=player_detailpage#t=362s
Is this implying that men on this will be less... manly?
No.
Too many men identify themselves as men through their ability to father children.
Biology 101
I, for one, welcome our new ball-shrinking overloards
I was sexual abused when I was 11 years old,
SHE was 14 years old,
I doubt I would been put on the pill, my parents are roman catholic and I am still sexually inactive
I am 28 years old
she accused me of rape and had an abortion which I disagreed with but, there was nothing I could do.
There is no global overpopulation. Some places (such as Japan) are already experiencing population aging and decline, which is bad in many ways. Other places (such as the USA and specially Europe) already have sub-replacement fertility rates, and their population only grows because of demographic lag and immigration. It is predicted the the European Union population (now at 503M) will reach zero natural population increase by 2015 and zero total population increase in 2035 (at 520M), then start declining.
The USA will grow from 310M in 2010 to 403M in 2050. [1]
Asia will increase from 4.2B in 2010 to 5.1B in 2050, then start declining. [2]
The only region that is really growing is Africa. It will increase from 1B in 2010 to 2.2B in 2050. [2] Then its population density will be 73/km2. [3] Compare that to the current population density in Portugal (115/km2), in South Korea (487/km2) and in Taiwan (641/km2). [4]
Global population is predicted to grow from 7B in 2011 to 9B in 2050 and 10B in 2100 [5] and start falling soon after [6].
And according to [7], 40-50% of America-produced food is thrown away. According to [8], 1/3 of the world food is thrown away.
And this does not take into account that people eat, just for pleasure, excessive quantities of resource-intensive food (such as meat). If Americans/Europeans want to help the poor, an easy way would be to decrease (say, by 30%) their diet of meat. This will immediately reduce food demand and, for double bonus, the saved money can be donated to charity. And much arable land is wasted on subsidized inefficient corn-based ethanol. You can lobby your government to stop that.
Plus, there does not seem to be a negative correlation between population density and GDP per capita. [9]
African hunger is not caused by overpopulation. It is caused by corrupt and authoritarian governments, and by guerrillas/terrorists motivated by Marxism, violent Islamism, ethnic hate or simply greed.
Overpopulation fear-mongering is very old - at least as old as Malthus. One of its more recent incarnations was the 1968 book "The Population Bomb", which predicted mass starvation to occur in the 1970s.
Anyway, for better or for worse, there is already strong action taken by individuals, foundations, and Western governments to restrict fertility in Africa.
1 : http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Analytical-Figures/htm/fig_11.htm
2 : http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Analytical-Figures/htm/fig_2.htm
3 : According to [2], Africa will have 2.2B people in 2050, and according to Google[10] and Wikipedia [11], the area of Africa is 30,221,532 km2
4 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density
5 : http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Analytical-Figures/htm/fig_1.htm
6 : http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Analytical-Figures/htm/fig_6.htm
7 : http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=56376-us-wastes-half
8 : http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/74192/icode/
9 : http://sanamagan.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/population-population-density-gdp-per-capita-ppp/
10 : https://www.google.com.br/search?q=africa+area
11 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa
You went from "unplanned pregnancy" to "unwanted child" without justification.
Some men who might take the pill may care about this issue, even though they will never taste their own ejaculate.
Some people (either gender) who do not take the pill might also care about if there is any effect on the taste.
If there is any change in taste, how would this affect product advertising for the pill?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Perhaps Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) and many GOP think this will go hand in hand with their "out of context" views on rape.
The man can't get the woman pregnant, then they can roll back rape laws...
The male contraceptive is not totally useless but close. Men suffer no consequences of failed contraception -- that is, if the method screws up, no big deal for the man. Women, on other hand, get pregnant when contraception fails and that's kind of a big deal. So let's say you're a woman. Your date says, "hey baby, don't worry, I'm taking the Male Pill. We're safe." Does she believe him? Hell no, if she cares about preventing conception, she uses contraception herself. Period. That simple. Yes, for some really reliable trusting couples, male contraception might be a chosen option. But for the vast majority of couples, the woman will use contraception because she has the largest stake in the outcome, rendering a male contraception option of little impact.
--JSt
The men's birth control pill is rather large, about the size of a 1 cm gumball.
You don't take it orally, you just put it in your shoe and it makes you limp.
F.
If your only tool is a hammer, you'll approach every problem as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
Real men wouldn't be seen in a honda anything.