After decades of attempts to develop new birth control medications for men, scientists are more hopeful than ever. With new abortion restrictions, demand is growing, experts say.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Jt8Ks

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      6 months ago

      RISUG works by an injection into the vas deferens, the vessel through which the sperm moves before ejaculation. RISUG is similar to vasectomy in that a local anesthetic is administered, an incision is made in the scrotum, and the vasa deferentia are injected with a polymer gel (rather than being cut and cauterized). In a matter of minutes, the injection coats the walls of the vasa with a clear gel made of 60 mg of the copolymer styrene/maleic anhydride (SMA) with 120 μL of the solvent dimethyl sulfoxide. The copolymer is made by irradiation of the two monomers with a dose of 0.2 to 0.24 megarad for every 40 g of copolymer and a dose rate of 30 to 40 rad/s. The source of irradiation is cobalt-60 gamma radiation.

      Sounds simple and fun lmao

      Also I’m reading it’s irreversible. Why wouldn’t you just get a vasectomy instead of injecting your junk with styrene and exposing it to radiation?

      • TheBroodian [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        I’ve never heard that before. The only thing I knew was that it didn’t get much traction in India because men weren’t interested. If you have an article or something, I’d be interested in reading about it. RISUG is in some sort of testing in USA right now under the name Vasalgel, but as far as I know it’s the same thing