You're listening to the Inquiry with me, Sandra Canthal.
Each week we bring you one question, four expert witnesses and an answer.
In December 2023, 16 men in the United Kingdom started taking a pill which made them unique.
As part of a groundbreaking clinical trial,
they were the first human recipients of of a non hormonal birth control pill designed
for use in males.
The phase one trial came to a successful conclusion in June 2024,
and further research is in the pipeline.
Women have been able to take a hormonal pill to block pregnancy since 1960.
Additional options have followed.
They can now choose from implants, patches, coils and injections, among others.
Men, however,
have just three methods of preventing pregnancy at their withdrawal, condoms and vasectomy.
Efforts to update available forms of male birth control have been going on for decades.
But now trials for new innovations are starting to show promise.
So in this edition of the Inquiry, are we ready for the new male contraceptives?
Part 1 Stopping an army.
Our abilities to manipulate female hormones
and to block the release of a single egg is what leads to contraception.
Now, if we were to try and use the same technology to block sperm production,