New Contraceptive For Men?Small Doses of Ultrasound Kills Sperm, Say Scientists

Published on January 31, 2012 by admin   ·   No Comments

DailyMail

It sounds like one of the more extreme examples of birth control – but blasting a man’s most vulnerable area with ultrasound could be the ideal form of male contraception, say scientists.

Experiments showed that high frequency sound waves effectively cut sperm counts in rats.

The equivalent outcome would result in reversible infertility in men.

Study leader Dr James Tsuruta, from the University of North Carolina, said: ‘Unlike humans, rats remain fertile even with extremely low sperm counts.

‘However, our non-invasive ultrasound treatment reduced sperm reserves in rats far below levels normally seen in fertile men.

‘Further studies are required to determine how long the contraceptive effect lasts and if it is safe to use multiple times.’

The perfect male contraceptive would be cheap, reliable, reversible, long-acting and have few side effects.