Finally, Male Birth Control Pills

[SoCalDem]

http://magazine.good.is/articles/birth-control-pills-for-men



Finally, Male Birth Control Pills
by Caroline Pham

“Did you take your birth control pill?”

It’s a question that causes many women to bristle, a recurring reminder that the brunt of the responsibility falls on them to prevent pregnancy. It’s a lopsided arrangement, to be sure, but researchers in Indonesia are on a mission to level the field with birth control pills for men.

After word had spread about men from the island of Papua using a common Indonesian plant, Justica gendarussa, to prevent pregnancy—by boiling its leaves in a tea or regularly chewing them—scientists decided to tap into the useful foliage themselves. By synthesizing a chemical from the gendarussa leaf into pills, Indonesian researchers have seen success in several clinical trials with the plant’s effectiveness as a male contraceptive.

“It’s 99 percent effective,” Bambang Prajogo, the lead scientist on the study, told the Global Post. “The pill weakens enzymes in sperm that allow them to squirm into a woman’s ovum.” He and his team said that men would need to take the pill once daily, much like the female version, but that “unlike female birth control pills, it doesn’t tinker with hormones, which causes so many unpleasant side effects.” That’s not to say the male version hasn’t produced any unwanted results in subjects (weight gain and increased libido have been recorded as potential side effects), but “overall, researchers haven’t seen anything that remotely rivals the zits, nausea, sporadic bleeding and other effects many women endure on hormone-based birth control pills.”

Count yourself lucky, boys.

snip

[Agschmid]

1. Pills are a good birth control but as we all know don't do much to...

prevent STI's! Always a good idea to use multiple forms on contraception (condom + pill) when not in a commited relationship... And then even still sometimes.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. WooHoo, it's the guys' turn!

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Don't hold your breath.

http://aeon.co/magazine/society/why-is-there-still-no-pill-for-men/

It's technologically ready to go. It's unavailable for political and regulatory reasons.

[NaturalHigh]

4. Speaking of "snip"...

I wish they'd had these back before the operation. Not much use now...