Gates Foundation studies using ultrasound to sterilize men, TIME magazine rejoices

by Tiffany O'Callaghan

Among the 78 research projects to receive $100,000 grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this week as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, is an effort by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to develop a non-invasive, reversible form of birth control for men -- using ultrasound. Based on preliminary trials in rats, researchers James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton hope to develop a technique that would render men temporarily infertile for up to six months after one or two ultrasound exposures.

The project is one of 10 to receive grants toward the goal of creating new technologies for contraception. Other projects geared toward men include a male contraceptive pill that researchers say would work by limiting the maturation of sperm, and research into the specific chemical compounds in the vagina that guide sperm to egg -- which researchers hope to recreate in the lab and potentially use to "disrupt" sperm navigation en route to the egg. (Earlier this year, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco uncovered clues about how pH levels impact how sperm swim, and expressed hope that further research in this arena could yield possibilities for male contraception as well.)

In early trials, Tsuruta and Dayton at UNC were able to halt rats' sperm production for up to six months after giving the animals two blasts of ultrasound spaced by two days, the New Scientist reports. The researchers believe that ultrasound disrupts sperm production with a combination of heat and shaking, and plan to further explore the mechanism at work with the new funding.

Ultimately, the researchers hope to develop a contraceptive technique that could provide long-lasting yet reversible infertility for men. As Tsuruta told the BBC:

"We think this could provide men with up to six months of reliable, low-cost, non-hormonal contraception from a single round of treatment... 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 countries."

SHARE:

Email This

Latest Brave New World
- Forced Medicine: The Philosophy Behind Fluoridation
- Former Marine claims military vaccines gave him brain damage
- Our Masters See Us As Cattle -- Or Guinea Pigs
- Veteran Class Certified in Drug 'Guinea Pig' Case
- NJ Attempts to Strip Parental Rights with Vaccine Anti-Exemption Bill
- UC Professor Eyes Permanent Sterilant To Cull US Population
- Portland, Oregon to spend $5 million to poison its residents with toxic fluoride
- Did Merck's Gardasil Vaccine Kill a 3 Year-Old Toddler?

No Comments Posted

Add Comment

Add Comment

Name

Comment

* No HTML

Verification *

Please Enter the Verification Code Seen Below

PLEASE NOTE

Please see our About Page, our Disclaimer, and our Comments Policy.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.

About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy