TIMES The Cost of Promiscuity

Graph from the overhead company Parsemus Foundation.

Accidental pregnancy brings drama to many lives. This can be avoided if every sexually active man, not looking to have children, agreed to have two tiny shots to their vas deferens. Despite impressive technological, advances half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.

Vasalgel makes sense for many reasons; it’s non-hormonal, a 15 minute procedure, lasts 10 years, and is completely reversible. It would be a great opportunity for men and it’s surprising the product hasn’t received more attention.

Vasalgel is a one time procedure and with a short waiting period between the injection and safe sperm-free sex. Another amazing detail of this contraceptive is that it is completely reversible, with a second injection of a simple baking-soda solution.

Getting pregnant should be something you look forward to, plan for, and consider as a serious decision. Currently the responsibility of contraception falls almost completely on women. This puts the majority of the decision making process of whether or not two people want to get pregnant on the woman and as sex is a team effort the responsibility should be more equally shared.
Vice recently wrote an article about Vasalgel and why it isn’t on the market yet.

Sadly, big pharmaceutical companies refuse to research it because the material, the polymer and other chemicals making up Vasalgel, costs less than the syringe used to inject it according to Arikia Millikan, the author of Vice’s article on male contraceptives.

Women have so many birth control options it’s easier to control one egg rather than tons of sperm. However it’s strange that 50 years after the invention of the pill a common male contraceptive hasn’t been introduced to the public. While RISUG was invented in the 70’s in India, the clinical trials for humans won’t even begin in the United States until next year. Vasalgel has been through 40 years of testing and the United States still hasn’t seen any of the male contraceptive action.

The only comparable birth control option for women is an IUD which might last as little three and at most 10 years. The real downside to the IUD is that they affect a woman’s menstrual cycles, possibly causing cramping, PMS, or heavier bleeding for a up to six months. Vasalgel is much simpler than the IUD since it only blocks sperm.
The human clinical trials supposedly start next year, but Parsemus Foundation, which is funding Vasalgel’s research, is vague about the when, where, and who concerning the study.

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