Talks of male birth control have been going on for the past few years now, but according to Motherboard, the perfect form is already around but isn’t being used.
RISUG – also known as Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance – was invented in India in the 1970’s by Sujoy Guha, a professor of biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology. The application, which is commonly referred to as “the male birth control injection,” has been studied in animals and humans for nearly 30 years, is minimally invasive, affordable, completely reversible, and the most effective way of preventing pregnancy from the male side that the world has yet to see.
So why isn’t it being used?
According to Motherboard, the process takes about 15 minutes:
“A doctor injects a tiny dot of a synthetic gel into the sperm-carrying tube just outside of each testicle. Once injected, the gel sets in the tube and acts like a filter, allowing fluid to pass through but not sperm. If the recipient decides he wants to take a shot at having kids at any point in between, all it takes is another injection of sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) to dissolve the liquid, and the sperm factory becomes operational again… And unlike the birth control pill and condoms, which have a real-life efficacy rate far lower than the ‘perfect use’ scenarios advertised on the packages, the birth control injection, like an IUD, comes with virtually no room for human error.”
The scenario sounds pretty perfect – minus the whole needle-penetrating-balls thing – but we’re sure there’s got to be a catch in there somewhere… right?
Apparently we won’t have to wait long to find out. In 2020 Vasalgel, a birth control injection similar to RISUG, is expected to hit the US market if funds keep flowing (which we’re hoping they do).
Head to Motherboard.com to read the full story.
