THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080577
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
A local expert in population control predicts that a male contraceptive will be on the market long before two scientists can prove their radical theory that frozen sperm and vasectomies are the birth control of the future.
Dr. Henry Gabelnick directs the Contraceptive Research and Development Program (CONRAD). Eastern Virginia Medical School administers CONRAD for the United States Agency for International Development.
``There are a number of leads that we're following that I think are encouraging,'' Gabelnick said Thursday, the day the British science journal Nature published an article proposing that the U.S. military provide subjects whose sperm would be frozen and studied for many years. ``I would hardly propose that one would gain much information trying to start a study in which you look at maintaining viable sperm for 25 to 30 years.''
The Nature article, by a Canadian researcher and a Stanford chemist who helped develop the birth control pill, proposes that men be made more responsible for contraception by having their sperm frozen and then undergoing vasectomies. When couples wished to start a family, the woman could be artificially inseminated ``cheaply and easily'' with the frozen sperm, the article says.
The researchers, who say a male contraceptive pill is decades away, propose that the U.S. military encourage servicemen to collect sperm samples that would be frozen for years, so the samples could be tested periodically to determine if they remain fertile.
But, Gabelnick said, a male contraceptive injection is not out of the question. CONRAD, which works with various universities, the World Health Organization and the Population Council, has studies under way on hormone implants that could last a year or longer, vaccines to stop sperm production and chemicals that would affect sperm after it leaves the testicles.
``Long before a sperm viability study could be done, we'll have results,'' Gabelnick predicted.
The Nature article proposes that if successful reversal of vasectomies could be guaranteed, more young men would become candidates. Vasectomies, now considered permanent contraception, are performed on nearly 500,000 American men each year.
CONRAD has demonstrated already that lowering a man's sperm count to 3 million or less can be an effective contraceptive, Gabelnick said. Researchers are working now to lessen the three months it takes to lower sperm counts, he said.
``We have one study that's going on at the University of Washington where we've shown you can achieve a low level within eight to 10 weeks,'' he said.
Gabelnick also questioned the logistics of storing sperm.
``If you're talking about doing it for tens of millions of men, it's kind of mind-boggling,'' Gabelnick said. ``Just making sure you have the right person's sperm tagged and stored and kept at the right temperature is mind-boggling.''
The cost of artificial insemination varies by technique, said Dr. Anibal Acosta, who directs the male infertility program at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine.
It can run up to $700 per try, with a success rate of 65 to 70 percent after six or seven tries, he said.
``You have to collect a sufficient number of samples from the husband to make sure you can do that many,'' Acosta said. ``If you don't have enough sperm, then you are left with nothing except reversal of vasectomy in the husband.''
Reversal is not guaranteed, and fertility is sometimes impaired even if it works, Gabelnick said.
Acosta said the proposal in Nature could work, but it may not be practical.
``If you are going to do that in a large scale, then you are going to need quite a big sperm bank in order to have 10 samples per donor. That is going to be quite a proposal. I'm not saying it cannot be done, I'm saying how practical is it?''
The Nature article was written by Dr. Carl Djerassi of Stanford, who worked on the pill, and Dr. Stanley P. Leibo of the University of Guelph in Ontario, who specializes in the freezing and storage of cells and tissue. The two say they published the idea ``to initiate serious debate and possible implemen-tation.''
The future, they said, could bring a change of mind where the ``normal'' adult reproductive state is infertility, and a deliberate step would be needed for pregnancy. by CNB