New Male Birth Control Concept Shows Promise

[Flipmo]

Equality for men may be on the horizon, contraceptive equality, that is. For just over a half century, women have been able to pop a pill to prevent pregnancy, but a pharmaceutical alternative has never emerged for men.
Now, research to interfere with the body's ability to use vitamin A is showing some promise, because, in men, vitamin A is necessary for the production of sperm.
One recent study found that a compound that interferes with the body's ability to use vitamin A rendered male mice sterile while they were receiving 8- or 16-week courses. But once the mice were taken off the compound, they resumed making sperm. Significantly, the researchers found no side effects, and the testosterone levels of the mice stayed normal, meaning no fluctuations in mousey libido.
"Our mice, they mate quite happily, so that is not something we have interfered with," said Debra Wolgemuth, one of the study researchers and a professor of genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Center. [Top 10 Aphrodisiacs]

Options

The female birth control pill uses hormones — chemical signals — to short circuit the release of a mature egg, known as ovulation. A similar approach can work in men, using hormones like progestins and testosterone, to suppress the production of sperm.
Although effective techniques have been developed, none have received approval by the Federal Drug Administration, according to Diana Blithe, program director for the contraceptive development centers program and contraceptive clinical trials network at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development.
"The reality is we could get a product out there very quickly if companies would aggressively take on the process of making it happen," she said.
Hormones don't suppress sperm production in a small number of men; however, these men could easily be identified and advised to use a different method, she said [5 Myths About the Male Body]
Some researchers, like Wolgemuth and her colleagues at Columbia, are exploring nonhormonal methods to interfere with the production or function of sperm.

The pathway

When you consume vitamin A, your body converts it into the metabollically active form, retinoic acid, which binds to a protein in your cells called a retinoic acid receptor. Then, the receptor protein can initiate the expression of genes necessary for the creation of sperm, if you are a man.
The compound Wolgemuth's team tested blocks the retinoic acid from binding to the receptor and so prevents the formation of new sperm.
"The long and short of what we know is vitamin A and its metabolite are absolutely essential for the production of male germ cells, or sperm," she said.

A high bar

Other research is looking at ways to use this pathway to render men temporarily sterile. Dr. John Amory, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, has been working with a drug that interferes with the action of an enzyme that converts vitamin A to its biologically active form in the testis.
One of the barriers to the development of a pharmaceutical contraceptive for men is a high bar for safety, according to Amory.
"For women the small risks of birth control have been always been justified by the larger risk of pregnancy or unintended pregnancy," he said. For instance, hormonal contraception carries a risk of blood clots that is dwarfed by the risk created by pregnancy.
"You can't use the same justification for a male contraceptive," he said.
The work by the team from Columbia supports the idea that interfering with the retinoic acid pathway can render male animals temporarily sterile, he said. Even though side effects have yet to show up in their work with the compound, he said: "The concern I have as a clinician about their approach is retinoic acid has multiple functions in multiple tissues so blocking the activity by blocking the receptor, I have concerns that could cause side effects."
Retinoic acid is important for vision, a healthy immune system and other functions.
The Columbia team's latest work was scheduled to be presented at the conference for endocrinologists, ENDO 2011, in Boston.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/06/new-male-birth-control-concept-shows-promise/#ixzz1OVvvKZV6​

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Would you?​

 

[Pittsey]

No.

I'll wear a Condom to protect myself from disease. And that also doubles up as contraception. But that's as far as I go.

I also look at contraception being a woman's priority (for want of a better word) as she is the person who will have a life inside and then have to decide whether to end that life or bring it into the world, possibly at a time not of her choosing or not with the person she would have wanted to.

 

[S O F I]

^You're only looking at it from the perspective of one-night stands with strangers. There are other situations to consider.

1. Married with kids and you don't want anymore but don't want a vasectomy
2. Wife getting mad because birth control is making her fat...or something..they bitch about it
3. You're rich and the girl (slut) would love to have your baby and have you pay 50K a month for child support..and you don't have a condom...and you don't pull out, etc

 

[Pittsey]

^You're only looking at it from the perspective of one-night stands with strangers. There are other situations to consider.

1. Married with kids and you don't want anymore but don't want a vasectomy
2. Wife getting mad because birth control is making her fat...or something..they bitch about it
3. You're rich and the girl (slut) would love to have your baby and have you pay 50K a month for child support..and you don't have a condom...and you don't pull out, etc

Yeah. I was pretty much looking at it as a casual fling type thing.

1. Sounds fairly reasonable.
2. Again.. Reasonable-ish.
3. a) I don't sleep with girls like that as a rule (although rules do get broken). b) I would always use a condom with a slut

 

[ArtsyGirl]

Wouldn't it make sense to use a condom AND something like this pill to double your chances of NOT becoming a Father? Condoms aren't 100%. I don't understand the whole "women's priority", having a child (should) impact the guy just as much as the woman in the long run - that's for life for both.

Condom for disease - Pill for reducing chances of pregnancy.

 

[Pittsey]

Wouldn't it make sense to use a condom AND something like this pill to double your chances of NOT becoming a Father? Condoms aren't 100%. I don't understand the whole "women's priority", having a child (should) impact the guy just as much as the woman in the long run - that's for life for both.

Condom for disease - Pill for reducing chances of pregnancy.

I knew I'd get accused of it.

Fact is, a lot of guys don't really care. How many fathers have been able to walk away. It's a lot easier for a man. They don't have to carry a baby and endure all the horrible parts of pregnancy. It's the woman that has to take the responsibility.

Scenario -

Man forgets to take pill. Not because he wants a baby, but because he's a man - and irresponsible.

Man starts kissing woman, it gets heated. He is getting ready to Fu... er... make love.

Woman - "Have you taken the pill today?"
Man - * inaudible mumble"*
Woman - "I said have you taken the pill today? If not you'll have to wear a condom".
Man - "Of course I have"

He knows he hasn't. But he can't think responsibly because he is horny as hell and wants to have sex without a bag on his dick. He is prepared to take the risk, because at the end of the day he doesn't think it will happen, and if it does, he can walk away.

If a woman thinks she can trust a man to share the responsibility she is kidding herself. She should be taking responsibility herself because men can't be trusted. We are lazy with contraception. It's a chromatic thing.


Also - A condom is almost 100% if used correctly. The risk says 96% safe or something, but it's actually a closer 2to 100%. If you use a condom right it won't fail.

 

[ArtsyGirl]

To me ideally the guy and girl have the pill AND use a condom. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Pittsey]

Depending on the relationship. I agree.

 

[Shadows]

i think both taking pills is a little over board.

I think this is more for if the girl has bad reactions to pills, the guy can take the pill...

and as far as im concerned, my condom use has been 100% for like 5 years.

 

[ArtsyGirl]

Eventually your number will come up and you'll be a Daddy, lets hope it's with the right woman haha!