U.S. researchers are working to develop a new method of male contraception.
The Bill Gates Foundation is funding the work of the team from the University of North Carolina.
An ultrasound treatment of the testes makes men sterile for six months. However, if they decide to stop getting the ultrasound, their future fertility is not affected and they would be able to conceive children. So the sterility would only be temporary.
Dr. Pierre Jouannet is a specialist in reproductive biology at Cochin Hospital. He says that we should not get too excited too quickly about this new technique. He says it will require more animal experiments before testing on humans could begin. Moreover, the question of potential side effects on other cells of the testes also needs to be determined.
So this technique will not be available to the general public any time soon.