Ultimate Solution To Save Our Planet
Gioietta Kuo
Senior Fellow, American Center for International Policy Studies, amcips.org
may 31 2009
Almost all of us have a long wish list of how to solve the most urgent problems facing the world today. Starting with global warming, how do we grow forests, preserve water, energy and the list goes on. At the end of many articles on “how to save our civilization”, one invariably come to the final solution which comes down to limiting the world’s population. But how? Sex and reproduction seem to be inherent drives in the human existence.
Indeed, if one were to go through the chain of all the ills confronting the world today, one cannot but conclude that over population is the mother of all evils. Say if the population were to be reduced miraculously by even 10%, how many problems would simply vanish overnight.
It is befitting, therefore, that China, a country most conscious of over population problems, has announced that it is close to developing an effective male contraceptive jab after successfully carrying out the largest feasibility study to date [1].
The significance of this news cannot be overrated, it has the potential of radically changing the global demographics and reducing the world’s scarcity problems. Yet, this piece of news has hardly hit the sidelines of newspapers.
Researchers at the National Research for family planning in Beijing injected 1000 healthy fertile male patients with a testosterone based jab over a 2 year period and found only 1 % went on to father a child.
The trial was the largest effective study of testosterone bases male contraceptive ever undertaken. The men were given 500 mg of testosterone undecanoate(TU) in tea seed oil. The injection resulted in a reduction of 2 regulatory brain chemicals, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising (LU) which in turn disrupted sperm production. The scientists found no usual side-effects and the process is reversible. No contraceptive is 100 % effective, the jab’s success rate is equal to the effectiveness of the female pill.
So far, male contraception is limited to vasectomy, condom and withdrawal. The use of this new contraceptive puts male contraception on par with the pill. Since the introduction of the pill, it revolutionize the sex lives but also placed the onus of reproductive responsibility on the women. Having this male contraception evens the responsibility, many women in our society would welcome this as only fair.
It is undeniable that sex and reproduction are two totally different entities. It is in a sense unfortunate that the two are linked. Those seeking sex do not necessarily want reproduction as the result. For this reason this male contraceptive gives one an additional freedom of enjoying sex without the much more far reaching consequences of reproduction.
In underdeveloped countries, the introduction of this male contraception jab has far reaching consequences of helping family planning and reducing birth rate. As wish lists go, this has to be number one.
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[1] Birth control for men in one injection
Chinese scientists succeed with testosterone jab on 1000 volunteers
“Independent”
Jereme taylor
may 5 2009