Healthwatch: The pill for men?

(WFRV) - About 80 percent of all women in the U.S. will use birth control pills at some point in their lives, but that could soon change. Listen up men, this is about you.

It's a daily routine for a lot of women.  Now researchers are working on birth control, for men. It's won't be easy. Men make a thousand sperm a second and to be an effective contraceptive, that number has to go down to zero!

Michael Lehmann  has been involved in five testosterone based clinical trials. He's taken daily pills, monthly injections, a cream he rubbed on his shoulder, and even had an implant.

"There were very minor side effects," he says, "I had some slight acne on my scalp."

But testosterone could increase the risk of heart disease and prostate cancer. So Dr. John Amory is blocking vitamin a in the testis, which in turn blocks the development of sperm. 

"I decided to explore ways of suppressing sperm without using hormones," Dr. Amory says.

Tests in mice show it works 100-percent of the time, but some doctors like Dr. Sanjay Acerwall are skeptical.

"A male contraceptive. I don't think women will trust it," he says.

While it may take time for men to get used to, choosing when to have or not have a baby could be in their hands

Researchers are also running tests on a hormone free drug that would  stop sperm production and is reversible.