OK, time for a little quality control. The link weasel has posted is for a journalistic story, not a medical announcement and it contains some inaccuracies. Male contraception has been "just a few years away" since I was in medical school a couple decades ago. It is a laudatory goal and I hope we reach it. Risug, under one of a few names may be it or it may be another near miss. It is in Class III clinical trial in India but it has undergone no clinical trials in any other industrialized country. The good news is that one pregnancy has resulted among 250 men's partners and that is said to have been because of improper injection.

Now some other considerations: The injections are not simply into the scrotum, they must be into the vas deferens, the tubes sperm travel on their way to the prostate and beyond. Delicate structures bringing the reversible bit of the name into some question. I have found no data on success rates for reversing this. May be high and may be low. Resistance has been encountered in nations with very controlled medical testing because of some of the chemicals used. The statement "non-toxic" is absolutely not true with one or two ingredients known carcinogens. This cannot be written off as conspiracy theory as the journalist does. These are serious issues regarding long term use and what may be leaching into the body from the gel that is formed within the vas deferens.

Not quite time to ask for it at Boots or Walgreens.

As for RedRoses report, true. But, many, many male birth control "pills" have gotten this far and even much closer to clinical trial when difficulties are discovered. I would bet on Columbia's approach before India's.

Cool! :) Thanx for posting Weasel!

I've read in the newspaper last Wednesday about a research project at Columbia University Medical Center who are getting closer to a male BCpill (oral intake). The first to not have steroids, but a component that the body produces when digesting vitamin A (the article didn't say the specific name). This interacts with RAR-receptors; these receptors are responsible for managing hormones that in it's turn see to the creation of sperm. Results so far indicate it seems side-effect free and reversible. But the procedure of development is still long term, they're at stage of testing mice now, and if all goes well will take years to go to market.

This RISUG seems at the last stages before approval; coming soon!
Gentlemen, seems like we're getting to a new day and age :)

Awhh, I was just about to sign my man up for the first shipping or medical trials, LOL! ;):):D
Thanx for clarifying, Brandye.

I hope this will come out eventually. The only depressing thing is that I will have a feeling a lot of dumb boys and girls will wind up mommies and daddies. Why? Because the convo will go

"Its okay I'm on the shot"
"Ok"

Meanwhile the guy is lying because he's too chicken to get a shot.

Plus its another reason not to use condoms which will lead to the spread of disease. I mean few men will get the shot and even fewer will wear a condom while on it since its 100% effective.

with brandye saying that she has not found any evidence that it is reversible this new idea is not really new. it is basically a chemical based vasectomy, right? and ten years is a long time to expect not to be fertile. on the other hand getting it at 16 wouldn't be a bad idea. plenty of time to mature and get college and/or career in line. though a predictable unfortunate consequence would be that more guys would want unprotected sex, leading to more STD transmission.

i like the pill idea better from one point because you can cycle off of it. what makes me wonder about a male bcp is what it would make a guy feel like. i think EEK said that if you want to know what a woman will be like during pregnancy put on bc. my friend said that he didn't like his wife on bcp, so i guess when it comes time for kids she wont be pleasant to be around.

side note - why is it called vasectomy? ectomy means to surgically remove, so vasotomy seems more appropriate(tomy means to cut) since they cut the vas deferens.

Wouldn't it be great for men to know that they can now be in charge of fertility with a far more effective birthcontrol than condoms?

I'm a bit worried about people losing the condoms and risk of std/hiv too... We can only hope for people to stay responsible. I somehow don't believe either RISUG or male BCP will be 100% effective. There have been times physicians told women that BCP was 100% and all failure was due to women not taking it on schedule ;) So let's just guess it at 98% What would be the difference between her on BCP and a condom or him on BCP and a condom? The difference I see is that both will be on the male... Perhaps that would make women even more so inclined to press for condoms, if she's not on some BCP herself... You could switch to female condoms if that makes either feel that the responsibility is more balanced. Or have her on BCP too, throw in some spermicides with the condom, then we're one happy family all taking responsibility and minimizing our chances to the minimalistic possible minimum:) We'll call it triple-Dutch (or have you already claimed that for some other practice?)

I think the happy fun would be that as a steady couple you can chose who is going to take the responsibility of birth control for both of you. It would add more temporary possibilities for a man to be, whereas now the woman mostly is. Question would be; are women ready to put this responsibility in male hands???:rolleyes:

I did not say that I found no indications of irreversibility. What I said was that I found results. The Indian doctor who has patented this in several South Asian countries has demonstrated that it can be reversible. Only 250 men have had the injections, in the clinical trials, and there are not yet sufficient reversals to publish meaningful results. The experimenter has "reversed" the procedure for some men (as a test) and demonstrated that over a three or four month period sperm returns to samples taken. On a mass scale no one knows how effective the reversals will be.

Just as a woman's fertility is questionable for some months after using the shot, or even Seasonique, there will be a period of time for the "reversing juice" to dissolve the gel which was originally placed in the vas deferens. I also question how the injections, both original and reversing, can be placed accurately without an incision. Possible, I just do not know how.

Yes, I said that since BCPS make the body think its pregnant by adjusting the hormones similarly, how she behaves while on BCPs is a reasonably good indicator of how she will be when she is, in fact, pregnant.

I expect similar results in men when they finally get a "male pill" if it is hormonally based.

my apologies, i guess i misinterpreted your words " i have found no data on success rates for reversing this." it is too soon to know without hard evidence is what you meant then.

EEK what would that be exactly? the man putting on 10-15 pounds of sympathy weight:)?

No, I'd expect masculine behaviors consistent with diminished testosterone - making him easier to live with.

[QUOTE=EvilEvilKitten;269952]No, I'd expect masculine behaviors consistent with diminished testosterone - making him easier to live with.[/QUOTE]

now now, eek, testosterone is rather nice for us guys. I dont want to lose any

back ontopic, a birth control pill for men would be excellent! I hope this comes through safely and reliably

Do not now now me - remember that just being in a monogamous marriage lowers a man's hormones. And this is a good thing. Calms the beast down without putting him out. From grizzly to teddybear!

[QUOTE=EvilEvilKitten;270076]Do not now now me - remember that just being in a monogamous marriage lowers a man's hormones. And this is a good thing. Calms the beast down without putting him out. From grizzly to teddybear![/QUOTE]

but grizzlies catch fish! :P
im gonna shut up now before i say more stupid things

Ah! but teddybears catch women!