Male birth control - updates

Several recent studies examine the impact on male fertility of three diverse sources: mountain biking, heavy cologne and a drug that appears to have no side effects.

The drug, used to treat Gaucher's disease--a rare genetic disorder that causes enlargement of the liver and spleen--severely damages sperm and, scientists believe, may be free of the side effects associated with hormone-based contraceptive treatments.

A British research team from the University of Sheffield and the University of Oxford administered the drug, which is known as NBDNJ, to male mice. It had no effect on sexual behavior but rendered the mice completely infertile.

"The advantage is that this drug does not influence the sex hormone production of the male in the way that hormonal treatments do," says study leader, Aarnoud van der Spoel, of Oxford. More research is needed before the drug is made available to men for birth control, but it has already been shown to be safe for Gaucher's patients, van der Spoel says, and this may help to speed up the process. The study appears in the December 2002 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Second, mountain biking may have contraceptive effect.

An Austrian scientist weighed into the debate over cycling and male sexual function with a study suggesting that frequent mountain biking may reduce fertility. The research, reported December 2, 2002, at a Chicago meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, says that jolts caused by biking may affect sperm production. Ferdinand Frauscher, MD, a urology-radiology specialist at University Hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, studied about 55 avid mountain bikers and found nearly 90 percent had low sperm counts. The research looked at fertility rather than impotence, which in 1997 was linked to cycling by Boston University impotence specialist Irwin Goldstein, MD.

Frauscher said men shouldn't avoid mountain biking, but should consider investing in bikes with shock absorbers or suspension systems designed to reduce the jolts.

And then there's heavy cologne. No, we don't mean that over-use turns off the opposite sex, we mean that a chemical used to preserve fragrances may cause sperm damage in adult men. Scientists from Harvard have uncovered evidence that exposure to the chemical--one of a toxic group known as phthalates--may damage the genetic material of human sperm. However, Russ Hauser, PhD, and his team are not completely sure whether this damage could leave men infertile or cause birth defects.

Phthalates are used to make fragrances last longer and to soften plastics. They have been linked with DNA damage and other problems. The European Union banned their use in some products in 1999. That's why last November, the US Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel caused a stir when it voted to allow the continued use of three types of phthalates in perfumes and beauty products.

The Harvard study was conducted at a Massachusetts fertility clinic and is reported in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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