(11 Jun 1995) English/Nat
Nearly 45 thousand children are born in India every day.
But efforts to cope with the country's overpopulation haven't met with success - until now.
After 12 years of research, one team in New Delhi is now offering a new method of male sterilization.
India's overpopulation problem has plagued the country for decades.
A major vasectomy campaign launched by Indira Gandhi's government was not successful mainly because of the need for surgery and the fact that the operation was irreversible.
Professor Sujok Guha - the Head of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering in New Delhi - claims to have found a new solution.
Earlier methods of chemical sterilization usually affected the hormonal system - thus decreasing the effectiveness of the body's immune system.
The aim of this new method is to use a chemical injection in a very localized manner - and so far it has shown no signs of side effects.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
Chemical sterilization first begun with female systems and a number of methodologies were developed. For the male, there was hardly any work going on. A technique was developed using some chemicals like cyprotrenate acetate which induce infertility but at the same time had certain side-effects, for example - suppression of libido, and therefore could not become very popular.
SUPER CAPTION: Professor Sujoy K Guha, The Indian Institute of Technology and All India Institute of Medical Sciences
The team of scientists who work on the project are delighted as this is possibly India's first major success in the field of family planning.
The large number of volunteers shows the popularity of the method - particularly because the process can be reversed.
Due to growing rate of divorces in India, many men are avoiding irreversible vasectomy fearing they won't be fertile in a second marriage.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
Unlike the other methods where one gives the drug weekly, monthly - we have to give it only once and it stays there for very long time. Maybe a decade, even longer and if in the meantime the person would like to restore his own fertility ability, that compound can be removed by injection a solvent. So that the normal conditions are obtained and again fertility is restored.
SUPER CAPTION: Professor Sujoy K Guha, Head of Center for Biomedical Engineering
These men are also volunteering - awaiting trial doses of the new drug.
The project - in its final stages - is expected to be widely available in the near future.
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