Male Pill: A blast in the nuts?

[charlie]

Researchers from University of North Carolina believe a blast of ultrasound to the testes can safely stop sperm production for six months.

The scientists, in fact, are beginning to conduct tests to see if ultrasound can be used as a reversible male contraceptive, reports the BBC News website.

Lead researcher James Tsuruta said: "We think this could provide men with up to six months of reliable, low-cost, non-hormonal contraception from a single round of treatment.

With a grant of $100,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation the researchers hope to offer a new birth control option to couples throughout the world.

"Our long-term goal is to use ultrasound from therapeutic instruments that are commonly found in sports medicine or physical therapy clinics as an inexpensive, long-term, reversible male contraceptive suitable for use in developing to first world nations."...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Science/Ultrasound-waves-as-contraceptive/articleshow/5923438.cms

[uberblonde]

1. And this is what they use on women and fetuses.

Without any long-term testing, I might add.

[laconicsax]

3. Just like how it's the same water in a garden hose as in a pressure washer.

Oh noes! Turning a garden hose on women is dangerous because a pressure washer can cause some pretty nasty damage! :eyes:

[moriah]

12. When ultrasound is killing one in 3000 babies....

.... I'll join the crusade against it. As it stands, ultrasound (specifically color Doppler ultrasound) is the only way to detect velamentous cord insertion and vasa previa, and is extremely useful in evaluating whether third trimester bleeding is caused by placenta previa.

Placenta previa occurs in 1 in 200 pregnancies and can kill both mother and child. Vasa previa is only fatal to the fetus in 4% of cases when it is detected before the mother's water breaks -- if it is not detected, when the membranes rupture it also ruptures the vessels in the umbilical cord and causes the baby to bleed out extremely quickly. If a mom is delivering at home or her water breaks at home, there is no way that the baby will be alive by the time they get to the hospital. In the hospital, there is a 54-90% chance (data from various studies) that the baby will die. Velamentous cord insertion is usually a component of vasa previa, but even when the cord vessels are not running directly across the cervix (that is the definition of vasa previa), if the cord ruptures from the baby kicking or a short umbilical cord, the baby will also exsanguinate.

All three conditions are easily managed by scheduled c-sections.

I was one of the lucky babies back in 1980 whose mother's water did not break until she was at the hospital, and they got her into the OR before we both bled to death (she had both vasa previa and marginal placenta previa, and the placenta started to abrupt at the same time as the cord vessels ruptured when her water broke). We both nearly died, and had to have blood transfusions. They warned my parents I would be likely to have brain damage. We were DAMN lucky.

(Edit to add: my 3000 number comes from the fact that vasa previa is said to occur in 1 out of every 2000-3000 pregnancies.)

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. Interesting bit of language there.

"the researchers hope to offer a new birth control option to couples throughout the world"

Is the pill a birth control option for couples? Is abortion?

Individuals should have the tools to control their own reproduction. Men too.

[alphafemale]

14. pssst...Last time I checked no Individual has ever become pregnent on their own.

It takes a...couple.

err...have you not had...the talk?

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. So abortion is about a couple's right to choose? n/t

[PDittie]

4. So when it comes to my nuts

I don't like the word "blast" right off the bat.

[leftstreet]

8. LOL no kidding. 'Blast' and 'nuts' should be used separately, or not at all

:rofl:

[Touchdown]

5. Well, the Vatican would surely be for THAT one.

No? :evilgrin:

[Festivito]

10. They aren't making a sound. /nt

[jp11]

6. I'll stick to a barrier, or vasectomy either way I feel I can sue people w/o risk of mutation or

increased risk of testicle explosion.

[BreweryYardRat]

7. I'd be nervous about the possibility of it permanently stopping production.

This is going to be one of those "wait and see" things.

[AmericaIsGreat]

9. This technique should be mandatory for all incoming high school students

No, seriously.

[Scuba]

11. Ouch !

[Dr Morbius]

13. I read through the entire article. Not once does it say the procedure is painless.

Discretion being the better part of valor, and sensitivity being the operative word in that anatomical region, I will demur.

Thanks but no thanks. As someone else wrote, new rule: no blasting allowed in that area, effective immediately.