Pape 6/The Battalion/Monday, December 5,1983
Male contraceptive works on rats
United Presa International
LONDON, Ontario — It was a
hance find which may go down
n history with the discovery of
;old in the Yukon or, as the myth
;oes, Lana Turner at Schwab’s
Irug store.
A Canadian researcher look-
ng for a compound to induce
juberty found a powerful male
:ontraceptive — but it has only
>een tested in rats,
fohn Wiebe, a reproductive en-
iocrinologist in the zoology de
partment at the University of
Western Ontario in London, said
ests over two years with the com-
pound have shown it stops sperm
production completely in male
rats.
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Unlike other experimental
male contraceptives, the com
pound contains no hormones
and appears to have no side
effects like reduced libido or
body changes.
“If we were looking for an
ideal contraceptive, we would
want to stop sperm production
but not hormone production,”
Wiebe said. “We want to continue
producing those. Most of us are
chauvinists about keeping the
male hormones intact.”
Wiebe declined to be specific
about the compound’s contents,
but it wasdesbnbed as a biological
non-toxic molecule which is
already present in body cells and
can be made artificially. Univer
sity attorneys are preparing, to
apply for a patent for the com
pound.
In current testing, it is injected
directly into the rats’ testes. Re
searchers also plan to use it on
monkeys. More testing will con
centrate on another important
aspect of developing a male con
traceptive — to see if it is rever
sible.
He also could not speculate on
when, if experiments on monk
eys are successful, tests might be^
gin on humans. But with the evi
dence culled so far, the com
pound “certainly may have some
important practical applica
tions,” he said. “Frankly, we were
quite astounded at what we
found. We’re still astounded.”
In the initial experiment, the
substance was injected into the
testes of male rats which were
then mated soon after with
females. In the first mating, the
females became pregnant. By the
second mating, only some did,
and by the third mating, two
weeks later, pregnancies re
sulted.
“The reason is sperm are
stored for cpiite a long time in the
ducts outside the testes,” said
Wiebe. “The stored sperm led to
a high sperm count at the first
mating. But by the third mating,
there was a 99.99 percent reduc
tion in the sperm count. Pre
gnancy was zero.”
A male contraceptive has to
knock out at least 96 percent of a
man’s sperm production, esti
mated at as many as 80 million
sperm daily, to be considered
effective.
mained infertile,” he said. ‘ So it s
certainly a long-range effect.”
Wiebe said he was originally
looking for a puberty-inducing
compound just as basic research
to understand how sexual matur
ation process takes place.
“The other thing you want in a
contraceptive is not to interfere
with the libido,” said Wiebe.
“When we tested this in mating
experiments, the treated rats
were just as interested, if not
more interested, in the females as
the control rats.”
_ eptive
compounds being tested use
combination of synthetic female
hormone to suppress sperm pro
duction with testosterone to fimit
side effects such as loss of libido.
The researchers in the past
few weeks have re-tested rats tre
ated 22 weeks ago. “All of them
mated and all of the females re-
Researchers are also investi
gating gossypol, a derivative of
cottonseed oil discovered in Chi
na in the 1950s. The Chinese
have found, however, it suppres
ses sperm production as long as
two years after a man stops tak
ing it.
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Crowd encourages
man climbing tower
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United Press
HOUSTON — Would-be
stuntman Skip Stanley, who
spent most of the day climbing a
2,400-foot broadcasting tower,
parachuted to the ground Sun
day as a crowd of onlookers
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Allen Scasta, class of'81
846-1738 3818 S. College Ave.
Lonny Scasta, owner(5 blocks North of
Skaggs)
cheered him on.
Authorities surrounded the
KTXH televison tower as Stan
ley wafted safely to the ground
at about 5 p.m. He eluded arrest
for about 2 Va hours by escaping
to a nearby residence, a Fort
Bend County Sheriffs Depart
ment spokeswoman said.
He was arrested in the house
and was taken to the Fort Bend
County jail to await arraignment
before a county magistrate Mon
day morning. Authorities said
he would be charged with cri
minal trespassing.
The spokeswoman said Stan
ley landed in the back yard of the
house, but traffic problems in
the area kept deputies from im
mediately reaching him.
More than 100 spectators,
who had watched the so-called
Blue Bandit climb the tower
most of the day, cheered and
whistled as he descended from
the tower.
Two policemen stationed in
an elevator three stories from
the top of the tower tried in vain
to talk Stanley out of jumping.
Stanley’s brother, Kenny
Stanley, filmed the entire event.
He said his brother had a minor
problem with one of the chutes
but was not injured in the jump.
Stanley had already mastered
Houston’s 71-story Allied Bank,
a stunt he concluded with a para
chute jump to the ground.
He began his climb of the
KTXH tower at 3 a.m. Sunday,
carrying a water bottle, a port
able telephone and a yen to
break into the movie stunt busi
ness.
“I can’t just take off and go to
California to work as a stunt
man,” he said.
Stanley, 21, who said he
stands 5-feet-9 and weighs 155
pounds, climbed with about 60
pounds of gear on his back, in
cluding pulleys and ropes, para
chute and harness.
He said he was not carrying
food, because he did not “intend
to be here that long.”
He also said that though he
had not received permission to
be on the tower, he did not fear
that anyone will interfere with
his climb.
“I called Channel 20 asking if
I could do a stunt like this and
they said no way. They feel the
risk is too high,” he said. “After I
start climbing, most people
won’t come after me. It takes ab
out one minute to get out oif
reach.”
Around towi
Battalion taking staff applications
Applications for positions on The Battalion staff w i[|k.
accepted until 5 p.m. Tuesday. Anvone interested in writij
and reportine, taking photographs or producing artwj
for The Battalion should pick up an application in 216fo*
* , ^ i j c- ioil i
1 to apply
Unit
CHIC
right to
should h
of their s
birth edt
“We 1
1CM xwv. r-- J ri —•■■1216RM
McDonald. Students from all majors are welcome
Professor wins “best article”award
Dr. John J. Kanet, associate professor of business analvsu
... .i r Business Administratinn L
and research in the College of Business Administration,la
won the “Best Article for 1983” award from the America
Production and Inventory Control Society.
The announcement was made at the society’s recent into,
national conference in New Orleans. Kanet’s article, “to.
ward Understanding Lead Times in Materials Requiremerc
Planning Systems,” earned the $500 award given annual
for the best judged article appearing in the society’s Produt
tion and Inventory Management Journal.
Student Y wrapping Christmas gifts
The Student Y Association is offering a Christmai pfi.
wrapping service today through Dec. 9 from 9 a m. to4pt
in 211 Pavilion. The service is free to Y members, but non
members will be charged from 50 cents to $1.25 depfcndiiij
on the size of the gift. Bows and ribbons will be includtdii
the wrapping, but boxes must be provided by the ownm
Society offers free help sessions
This will be the last week that pledges from Tau Beta Pi,i
national engineering honor society, will be available tohelf
any student in Math 151 and 253, and ME 211 and 212.Tht
help sessions will be Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m.loi
p.m. in 104D Zachry. For more information call GlynnLte
ney, chapter president, at 846-3316.
sory in <
said in «
book to
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up like j'
rated fat:
:ven bee:
nv old
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Worn
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Tying to
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Aggieland photos taken at Pavilion
Juniors, seniors, veterinary and medical school studetm
can have individual pictures for the 1984 Aggieland lakfli
today through Dec. 9 at the Pavilion on campus. Thiswillbt
the last chance for students to have pictures made.
To submit an item for this column, come by The Batttlioe
office in 216 Reed McDonald.
Stanley said getting up the
tower was not so much a prob
lem as the parachute jump at the
end.
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