Just a little one today.
A Scottish study is shedding light on ways to safely manipulate hormone levels in men to decrease — or increase — sperm production. The result could finally lead to a long-elusive birth control pill for men, as well as new fertility-enhancing techniques for men with low sperm counts.
From the Times of India:
To make this discovery, Welsh and colleagues performed studies in two groups of mice.
The first group of mice was normal, but the second group of mice was missing a gene from the peritubular myoid cells in the testis. This gene that was missing codes for the androgen hormone receptor, and when missing, sperm production was significantly decreased when compared to the normal group. The result was infertility.
[…] Although the research was conducted in mice, a similar effect is likely to obtain in other mammals, such as humans.
4 responses so far ↓
1 whoseyourdaddy // Dec 2, 2009 at 7:18 pm
hmmm. i wonder if that will have other major unwanted secondary effects like The Pill has on women… i guess mankind will never get it. mess with nature and you lose.
2 maya // Dec 3, 2009 at 7:48 pm
the pill’s initial development was rife with hazardous effects, but its current forms are quite safe (after accounting for health choices and family history).
Since the male pill is still in the animal testing stage, we can’t really expect it to be released for human use any time in the near future.
Also, thanks to ethical structures and closer monitoring, the development of the male pill won’t be conducted in a clandestine and inhumane manner on unsuspecting offshore minority groups (we hope).
3 B // Dec 6, 2009 at 11:38 pm
With all these significant discoveries of late (e.g., MS “surgery”) it seems that the medical sciences are making great strides. How long do you figure before they realize people aren’t rats?
Speaking of secondary effects. If the pill for women can clean up complexion, do you think they could work a remedy for male baldness into the male pill?
4 Asher Vijay // Dec 17, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Speaking of side-effects, have you seen this?
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