Get ready guys – we’re one step closer to getting a male contraceptive pill. Researchers have pinpointed a faulty gene that impacts sperm movement so that the little fellas can’t penetrate an egg and fertilize it.
The scientists from the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences in, of all places, Tehran, Iran, were looking for gene defects related to deafness, but came across the sperm gene – called CATSPER 1 – instead.
Experts speculate that a drug could be developed to stick to the CATSPER1 protein to prevent it from working properly. A man taking this drug would produce abnormal sperm that could not fertilize an egg. The trick with such a drug is to make it not only safe and effective, but also reversible.
So men – what do you think? Are you ready for your own contraceptive? Would you take one if it was available?
photo credit: tacit requiem
April 27th, 2009 at 7:08 am
lol.. no thanks.. we’re basically talking about ‘intoxicated’ sperm here. There’s always that ‘drunk driver’ who can drive home without crashing.. who’s to say that one lone soldier wont make his way to egg-city anyway? Will there be anyone I can hold responsible for ALL costs in raising my child if this fails? Exactly…
May 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
“of all places, Tehran, Iran”
why is that ‘of all places’? because you’re a racist redneck?
May 27th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
There was no insult intended. It’s simply that, as Iran is effectively ruled by religious conservatives, it’s surprising to hear that the country is working on cutting edge research into birth control. I realize there are huge swaths of the population in Iran – particularly in Tehran – that are secular, but you just don’t hear much about that side.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@Tim.
It takes more than just one sperm to fertilize an egg. Thousands are needed to even weaken the cell walls enough to gain entrance, let alone get ‘em preggers. You’d need about 10,000 “drunk drivers” who are all competent enough to get home while wasted. Not just that, but the pill, if I understand correctly, physically alters the sperm making it difficult for it to swim in a specific path, so your metaphor only works if the “drunk driver” only has one arm, no eyes, and a medical condition that causes his skin to fall off. Odds are he’s not making it home by himself.
Also, as to your “who’s gonna pay for all these babies?” question, there is no contraceptive that is 100% affective (save abstinence, but what fun is that?), so you’re always taking a chance no matter what you do.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Follow up comment:
Who WOULDN’T want the baby that resulted from the unlikely chance of impregnation? It clearly would have to possess superpowers in order to have made it though the gauntlet that is the cervix and make it to home base while horribly deformed and chemically retarded. That baby would be able to lift cars with its mind. It would also possess the ability to discern whether zebras are black with white stripes or white with black stripes. And it would be able to mathematically predict the outcome of any fistfight between two people instantly, forever settling the question of “William Shatner VS Megatron” once and for all.
May 27th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Rowrow certainly interesting logic there. I would honestly take the pill.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
FUCK YES!
1. condoms suck balls
2. you could fuck any clean female without making sure they’re on birth control, and having the chance of them lieing.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
If both the man and a woman is using a contraceptive and a baby is born, that mofo is staying; just like rowrow said, it would probably abe a super baby
May 27th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Sperm doesn’t “penetrate” the egg. The egg actively lures in the sperm (which are programmed to veer around, banging their heads side-to-side exactly like a drunk driver). This pill obviously works in some other way than preventing the sperm from doing something it doesn’t actually do. So my question is–what does the pill really do? I’m really curious.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I’m fairly certain I would slip this to my husband every day in his food. I’m glad science is finally giving some responsibility to men. I try to take the pill everyday but sometimes I forget. This would be a great extra security blanket.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Would absolutely take the pill. Making sure you don’t have a child is an investment in the happiness of your next twenty years of life.
Also, solves the problem of running out of condoms midway through a romp.
Up with sex! Down with Unwanted Pregancy!
May 30th, 2009 at 4:33 am
@Thomas – its not a matter of “preventing the sperm from doing something it doesn?t actually do”. The sperm needs its own mobility to actually get anywhere near the egg before we even talk about the whole ‘egg penetration’/'luring the sperm in’ bit (regarding this last bit, the sperm would still need to be able to move by themselves to be ‘lured in’).
Crippling the sperms mobility by negating a protein crucial to sperm movement would effectively leave them at the cervix with no way of actually approaching an area anywhere near the egg; the contraceptive would actually work exactly the way it is being described as working, even if the writing in this article is a little clumsy at points.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
re RowRow: This is how Chuck Norris was born.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
The male pill is already here.You put it in your shoe and it makes you limp.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I would love to take this if it was shown to be able to kill all sperm, or 99% likelihood of preventing pregnancy. Unfortunately no pill, even this one, is THAT effective.
The reason we have female pills that are effective is because at 99% effectiveness, and only say 12 eggs a year, you’re in good shape. at 99% effectivness with sperm, and millions of sperm per ejaculation, you still have a decent chance of getting pregnant each time. you only need a few to break down the wall, and one to get through, but you’re still having a few thousand that are able to do that job.
June 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I’m fairly sure RowRow is wayyyy off. You only need thousands of sperm because the vaginal canal is so toxic to sperm. Only one is technically needed to penetrate the ovum but many just die before they make it.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Adam, for the love of god please don’t talk like that about a subject you clearly know nothing about. RowRow is entirely correct. A single sperm could not penetrate the ovum. The ovum has a coating which the sperm attack and must penetrate before fusion can occur. The coating is thicker than a single sperm can penetrate but by weakening part of the coating one increases the chance that others near it will get through. So actually the first sperm to reach the egg is unlikely to be responsible for fertilisation.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Adam: There is nothing “toxic” about the vaginal canal. What evolutionary purpose could that have? “Oh, I can’t let none of them little tadpole sumbitches get all up in my hoo-hah. I’d better secrete a poisonous fluid to kill ‘em all, thus negating any chance I have of propagating my species.”
Also, I think we might see several more cunnilingus related deaths.
————————–
Police Officer Clemens: What’ve we got here, Johnson?
Police Officer Johnson: Looks like another one of them “ate himself to death” cases.
PO Clemens: That’s a damn shame.
PO Johnson: Yep. Had a buddy in college went the same way. Great big smile on his face, though.
PO Clemens: Hell of a way to go, that’s for sure. Think he just lost track of time?
PO Johnson: Clemens, have you ever “lost track of time” while you were down there?
PO Clemens: You’re right. I count down from 300 and call it a night when it comes to buffin’ the little lady’s bean.
PO Johnson: Gross.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Haha, you guys are funny!
It’s probobly really creepy that I’m on this blog…oh well.
June 20th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
TotallyNotRowRow, you’re partially right. The vagina is acidic. This is caused by the microorganisms living inside the vagina secreting lactic acid, which kills any foreign contaminants, including sperm.
Also, this pill would be better than any of the other experimental male contraceptives out there.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Basically, if the sperm do survive, after taking this pill, then your in for a world of trouble! Retards are everywhere!
August 13th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
You’re correct, Worm. I decided that hyperbole was the way to go on this one, so I kind of bent my own personal reality for my own comedic means. Does that make me a bad person?
April 19th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Oral contraceptives are a very common reason for female hair loss. This fact leads me to the question… is a male contraceptive going to increase their chance for hair loss?