I noticed two interesting pieces of reproductive news recently:
1) The fantastic news that emergency contraception (otherwise known as the morning after pill) will soon be available to seventeen-year-olds in the U.S. without a prescription.
“Like their older counterparts, 17-year-old women will now be able to go to almost any pharmacy, clinic or hospital and, after showing proof of age, buy Plan B without a prescription. Men 17 and older may also buy Plan B for a partner.”
Awesome. Goodbye Bush administration leftovers, hello enlightenment.
2) Scientists in China have completed trials of a monthly contraceptive testosterone injection which works by temporarily blocking sperm production. During the clinical trials just one man in a hundred fathered a child while on the injections. Six months after stopping the birth control injections the men's sperm counts returned to normal. Read the BBC coverage.
In other news, Canada has been barking about its right to club seals to death. “A motion to use the [2010 Winter Olympic] Games to promote seal products passed unanimously in the House of Commons yesterday.”
However, the EU isn't buying our tired (and shameful) spiel about how we club seals humanely in this country. Maybe we haven't done a very good job of articulating our methods, how we offer the seals comfy hypoallergenic pillows to lie on when said clubbing is being done, as well as a blindfold and a scrumptious final meal...or something.
Nope, the EU isn't having it. This week the European Parliament voted 550—49 to ban imported Canadian seal products.
We shouldn't need the EU to point out how wrong the seal hunt is. Just because we can make money from something doesn't make it defensible. And having a long history of hunting seals doesn't make it defensible either. The hunt is quite simply barbaric and has to stop. Now that the market for seal products is disappearing Canada will be forced to see the light but it's more than a little disconcerting that we couldn't have opened our eyes voluntarily.
1) The fantastic news that emergency contraception (otherwise known as the morning after pill) will soon be available to seventeen-year-olds in the U.S. without a prescription.
“Like their older counterparts, 17-year-old women will now be able to go to almost any pharmacy, clinic or hospital and, after showing proof of age, buy Plan B without a prescription. Men 17 and older may also buy Plan B for a partner.”
Awesome. Goodbye Bush administration leftovers, hello enlightenment.
2) Scientists in China have completed trials of a monthly contraceptive testosterone injection which works by temporarily blocking sperm production. During the clinical trials just one man in a hundred fathered a child while on the injections. Six months after stopping the birth control injections the men's sperm counts returned to normal. Read the BBC coverage.
In other news, Canada has been barking about its right to club seals to death. “A motion to use the [2010 Winter Olympic] Games to promote seal products passed unanimously in the House of Commons yesterday.”
However, the EU isn't buying our tired (and shameful) spiel about how we club seals humanely in this country. Maybe we haven't done a very good job of articulating our methods, how we offer the seals comfy hypoallergenic pillows to lie on when said clubbing is being done, as well as a blindfold and a scrumptious final meal...or something.
Nope, the EU isn't having it. This week the European Parliament voted 550—49 to ban imported Canadian seal products.
We shouldn't need the EU to point out how wrong the seal hunt is. Just because we can make money from something doesn't make it defensible. And having a long history of hunting seals doesn't make it defensible either. The hunt is quite simply barbaric and has to stop. Now that the market for seal products is disappearing Canada will be forced to see the light but it's more than a little disconcerting that we couldn't have opened our eyes voluntarily.
