Bad news for Maury Povich: The nerve-wracking paternity tests that make up the bulk of his trashy TV show may soon be a thing of the past, as scientists inched closer to a male contraceptive this week.
New research suggests therapeutic ultrasound could one day be used to shut down sperm production, handy for men who want something more fool-proof than withdrawal or condoms, but less permanent than a vasectomy.
The treatment – which has been performed on rats and is a long way from being tested on humans – involved warming the testes briefly over two sessions. It “pretty much wiped out” sperm, said James Tsuruta, lead author of the report published in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.
“Just two weeks after we did these treatments, the rats’ sperm counts were down far below levels that we would normally see in fertile men,” said Dr. Tsuruta, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In the distant future, he envisions men rendered infertile for six months after one quick treatment: “Basically they would sit and a mini-hot tub would come up. Their testes would be submerged in this cup of saline solution or water. From underneath, you would turn on the ultrasound, which travels through the liquid and gets to the testes.”
Men poaching their boys? “People don’t think twice about taking a soak in a hot tub. We’re not talking about much difference in terms of temperature or feeling,” assured Dr. Tsuruta, adding that a latex barrier would further separate a man's gonads from the apparatus.
As with scores of other male contraceptives currently under study, questions abound: What are the side effects, how long does the contraceptive effect last and is it safely reversible?
Even as parental responsibility equalizes between the genders, options for men who want to wield control over their fertility remain scant. With attempts to create a “male Pill” now spanning three decades, scientists are still experimenting with a wide range of options, including hormones in the form of gels, implants and shots; plant-based pills being tested in Indonesia as well as “accidental discovery” oral drugs that block sperm production or even hinder ejaculation during orgasm.
“Male contraception has always sort of been the little brother to female contraception,” Dr. Tsuruta said. “The success of the Pill – that’s just stupendous. But there are women who have bad side effects from hormonal contraception. Men need to be aware that sometimes they have to step up.”
He cited a 2005 United Nations survey that found that 75 per cent of Canadian men don’t use any form of contraception – not condoms (often shirked by committed partners), or permanent vasectomies, or the dubious withdrawal method.
Advocates of the treatments currently under study suggest more options would bring those numbers up. A 2005 report found that more than 60 per cent of men in Germany, Spain, Brazil and Mexico were willing to use a new method of male contraception. Although not highly scientific, last July’s AskMen.com large-scale survey of 100,000 men found that 64 per cent of Canadian men would take a male birth-control pill if it were available.
So why has it taken so long for newer male contraceptives to emerge? The problem appears to be the robust male sperm count: Unlike women, who produce one quality egg a month, men blast out 100 million sperm with every ejaculation, with one scientist comparing testes to a “factory.”
“Men are making sperm all the time. It’s harder to turn them off,” said John Amory, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, who is now working on a drug developed for worm infections that also blocks retinoic acid, which is responsible for sperm production.
