The perfect male birth control.

[Kai]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_vasectomy/

He arrived at the hospital around midday and met Hem Das, then the hospital's chief vasectomy surgeon. Das had an interesting question for Deshpande. Rather than receive a traditional vasectomy, would Deshpande like to be part of a clinical trial for a new contraceptive procedure?

Das explained that the new method did not have some of the drawbacks associated with a regular vasectomy. First, sperm would still be able to escape Deshpande's body normally, which meant he would be free of the pressure and granulomas that sometimes accompany a vasectomy. More important, it could be reversed easily, with a simple follow-up injection.

"I am normally not adventurous when it comes to getting myself operated on," Deshpande deadpans. But the new method sounded good to him, and according to the published studies he read on his smartphone in the waiting room, it seemed safe. He gave his wife, Vinu, a call, and although she sounded nervous on the phone, she said she was fine with it. Deshpande decided to try the experimental method.

When his turn came, he lay down on the table, and an orderly draped his lower body with a green surgical cloth that covered everything but his scrotum. Then Das moved in with a needle containing a local anesthetic. Once the drug had taken effect, Das gathered a fold of skin, made a puncture, and reached into the scrotum with a fine pair of forceps. He extracted a white tube: the vas deferens, which sperm travel through from the testes to the penis. In a normal vasectomy, Das would have severed the vas, cauterized and tied up the ends, and tucked it all back inside. But rather than snipping, Das took another syringe, delicately slid the needle lengthwise into the vas, and slowly depressed the plunger, injecting a clear, viscous liquid. He then repeated the steps on the other side of the scrotum.

The procedure is known by the clunky acronym RISUG (for reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance), but it is in fact quite elegant: The substance that Das injected was a nontoxic polymer that forms a coating on the inside of the vas. As sperm flow past, they are chemically incapacitated, rendering them unable to fertilize an egg.

If the research pans out, RISUG would represent the biggest advance in male birth control since a clever Polish entrepreneur dipped a phallic mold into liquid rubber and invented the modern condom. "It holds tremendous promise," says Ronald Weiss, a leading Canadian vasectomy surgeon and a member of a World Health Organization team that visited India to look into RISUG. "If we can prove that RISUG is safe and effective and reversible, there is no reason why anybody would have a vasectomy."

But here's the thing: RISUG is not the product of some global pharmaceutical company or state-of-the-art government-funded research lab. It's the brainchild of a maverick Indian scientist named Sujoy Guha, who has spent more than 30 years refining the idea while battling bureaucrats in his own country and skeptics worldwide. He has prevailed because, in study after study, RISUG has been proven to work 100 percent of the time. Among the hundreds of men who have been successfully injected with the compound so far in clinical trials, there has not been a single failure or serious adverse reaction. The procedure is now in late Phase III clinical trials in India, which means approval in that country could come in as little as two years.

100% effectiveness, 100% reversible, no side effects, low cost. How much better can it get?

[Don Coyote]

Dude.

[LMNO]

The tough part is convincing a partner that you've done it.

[Don Coyote]

The only time I would go for this would be in a monogamous relationship with a clean partner, at which time I would hope my partner trusts me enough to take my word for it. It would be no different from trusting the female partner when she says she is on the pill, or shot.

[Kai]

The only time I would go for this would be in a monogamous relationship with a clean partner, at which time I would hope my partner trusts me enough to take my word for it. It would be no different from trusting the female partner when she says she is on the pill, or shot.

Well, yeah, and you'd still use a condom with a stranger if an HIV vaccine were discovered. This story has nothing to do with that. It's just the /greatest fucking discovery/ in male birth control since the condom, that's all.

[Requia ☣]

So who wants to put down money that the anti birth control fundies will think its ok for a man to use this even though female birth control is wrong?   

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So who wants to put down money that the anti birth control fundies will think its ok for a man to use this even though female birth control is wrong?   

I'll take that bet.

TGRR,
Knows the fundies oppose condoms, too.

[Freeky]

BIRF CUNTROLL IZ DEH DEBIL'S WORK.  HOW WE SPOZED TO BUILD AH AHMIES FO GAWD IFN WE FOLLOW DEH DEBIL?
           /

[Freeky]

I have family who are against birth control AND want nine kids.  She already has four or five, so she's well on her way.

[Requia ☣]

So who wants to put down money that the anti birth control fundies will think its ok for a man to use this even though female birth control is wrong?   

I'll take that bet.

TGRR,
Knows the fundies oppose condoms, too.

I'm aware.  I also don't think they'll be able to pass up a chance to be hypocritical as fuck on the issue.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So who wants to put down money that the anti birth control fundies will think its ok for a man to use this even though female birth control is wrong?   

I'll take that bet.

TGRR,
Knows the fundies oppose condoms, too.

I'm aware.  I also don't think they'll be able to pass up a chance to be hypocritical as fuck on the issue.

That's because you don't think. 

[LMNO]

[Kai]

The tough part is convincing a partner that you've done it.

You could keep medical records on hand. Like a wallet card. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This is awesome! Wow.

[Jasper]

I am going to keep this in mind.