1
00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,120
Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

2
00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:10,160
Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

3
00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,399
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

4
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,960
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

5
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,919
Speaker 1: Strait island and nations. We pay our respects to the

6
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

7
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Thursday,

8
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,680
Speaker 2: the sixteenth of February. I'm Sam, I'm Zara. Have you

9
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,239
Speaker 2: ever wondered why there's a female contraceptive pill but not

10
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 2: a male one?

11
00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 3: Yes?

12
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,600
Speaker 2: Well, new research might be one step closer to making

13
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,160
Speaker 2: it happen. A team of scientists have developed a contraceptive

14
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,120
Speaker 2: pill which makes male mice temporarily in fertile. So could

15
00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,120
Speaker 2: this soon be widely available? And why has it taken

16
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,480
Speaker 2: this long to happen? We'll let you know in the

17
00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,440
Speaker 2: Deep Dive. But first, Sarah, what's making headlines this morning?

18
00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 4: Philip Lowe has defended his position as RBA governor, saying

19
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,360
Speaker 4: it would be a very bad outcome if he and

20
00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,960
Speaker 4: the rest of the board had to resign. In a

21
00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,039
Speaker 4: Senate Estimates hearing yesterday, Low predicted there would be more

22
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,399
Speaker 4: rate rises to come, saying it's necessary to tackle inflation.

23
00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 2: Four people have been confirmed dead in New Zealand following

24
00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,720
Speaker 2: cyclone Gabrielle. At least one child is included in that

25
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,000
Speaker 2: death toll, with police finding the body in the North

26
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,960
Speaker 2: Islands town of Eskdale yesterday afternoon. New Zealand Police said

27
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,920
Speaker 2: over fourteen hundred people have been registered as uncontactable following

28
00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:35,560
Speaker 2: the cyclone.

29
00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,600
Speaker 4: On Tuesday, we did the deep dive on UFOs being

30
00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,720
Speaker 4: shot down out of North American airspace to remind you

31
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:45,960
Speaker 4: of what happened. Two UFOs were shot down in the

32
00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,680
Speaker 4: US earlier this week, with an additional object intercepted over

33
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,680
Speaker 4: Canadian airspace. White House officials have now said the leading

34
00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 4: explanation for these unidentified UFOs was that they were tied

35
00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,200
Speaker 4: to commercial or research entities, that they are benign.

36
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,120
Speaker 2: And today's good news, A world leading Australian medical program

37
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 2: initially created to treat children with the highest risk cancers

38
00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,280
Speaker 2: will now be available to children with any type of cancer.

39
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,200
Speaker 2: The Zero Childhood Cancer Program will be rolled out in

40
00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:21,600
Speaker 2: stages throughout the year. The Oral contraceptive pill was first

41
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 2: introduced in May of nineteen fifty, although it was only

42
00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 2: available in Australia from nineteen sixty one, and that was

43
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 2: only to married women. We're now sixty two years later,

44
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 2: and while female contraceptives have become more varied and more accessible,

45
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,200
Speaker 2: there's still no oral contraception option for men. But a

46
00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,560
Speaker 2: successful trial in mice means that could change.

47
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,680
Speaker 4: Where are things at in terms of male contraception generally,

48
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,639
Speaker 4: I feel like it's not something we hear about very

49
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:49,280
Speaker 4: often at all.

50
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,800
Speaker 2: Well, put it this way, of all the contraceptives currently

51
00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,880
Speaker 2: in existence, only two of male use, and we're talking

52
00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:57,880
Speaker 2: there about vaseectomes and condoms.

53
00:02:57,919 --> 00:02:58,799
Speaker 3: That doesn't surprise me.

54
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,240
Speaker 2: There have been clinical trials of hormonal contraceptive pills with

55
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,200
Speaker 2: around a ninety four percent success rate, but some of

56
00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 2: those trials have been abandoned because men were experiencing adverse

57
00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 2: side effects. We're talking about things like acne, mood swings,

58
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:13,040
Speaker 2: or depression.

59
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 4: If only this was filmed and you could see my

60
00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 4: reaction there, and I'm sure the reaction of any other

61
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:22,840
Speaker 4: woman listening to this who has experienced the fun of

62
00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,280
Speaker 4: being on a contraceptive pill. It seems like that is

63
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,520
Speaker 4: something that is just by and by of being on

64
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 4: the pill. Why did they stop those clinical trials for

65
00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,200
Speaker 4: men experiencing those very same things.

66
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 2: Well, I think you're right, But the side effects argument

67
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,760
Speaker 2: has come up again and again. For example, in twenty sixteen,

68
00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 2: there was a lot of coverage about the fact that

69
00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,760
Speaker 2: a trial of a male hormonal contraception, which had been

70
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 2: commissioned by the World Health Organization was dropped because of

71
00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 2: side effects. Fifty percent of people experienced acne, many experienced

72
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 2: some emotional disorders, thirty eight percent experienced an increased libido.

73
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,600
Speaker 2: But you're right. You only have to read the information

74
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,720
Speaker 2: sheet that comes with female hormonal contraceptives. It's long, Well,

75
00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:05,600
Speaker 2: it's very long.

76
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:07,280
Speaker 3: It's like a full on document.

77
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's a litany of warnings things like acne

78
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,360
Speaker 2: and mood swings. Sure, the same as the male side effects,

79
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,360
Speaker 2: but also for an increased risk of blood clots.

80
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:17,040
Speaker 3: Deport blood clots.

81
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,880
Speaker 4: When we were all talking about a possible harm caused

82
00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,680
Speaker 4: by the astrosenica vaccine and the government was announcing who

83
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,520
Speaker 4: could get and who couldn't, I think that there were

84
00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,280
Speaker 4: a lot of women who were looking at that and

85
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,800
Speaker 4: just acknowledging the fact that the oral contraceptive also carries

86
00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,720
Speaker 4: risks for blood clotting. But that's just part of the

87
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:33,799
Speaker 4: risk that we accept.

88
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:35,520
Speaker 3: It's not wanting to have children.

89
00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:37,320
Speaker 2: It's part of the booklet. And that's all to say

90
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 2: that hormonal birth control is definitely not perfect for men

91
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:41,359
Speaker 2: or for women.

92
00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,680
Speaker 4: It's not, and there is a lot of variation out

93
00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,640
Speaker 4: there for women, especially in what they can access for

94
00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,719
Speaker 4: birth control. There's non hormonal forms of female birth control

95
00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,040
Speaker 4: things like some IUDs. I'm not saying they're perfect either,

96
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,159
Speaker 4: but there actually are options for what women can access today,

97
00:04:58,320 --> 00:04:59,640
Speaker 4: unlike men exactly.

98
00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,880
Speaker 2: And that why this team of scientists have worked to

99
00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,520
Speaker 2: develop an on demand non hormonal birth control for men.

100
00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:08,279
Speaker 3: Okay, wait, takee me through what that means.

101
00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,920
Speaker 2: So first I need to point out that this has

102
00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,840
Speaker 2: been really successful with mice, but it hasn't been tested

103
00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,080
Speaker 2: on humans yet, so there is a long way to go.

104
00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:18,359
Speaker 2: And have that as the big grain of salt that

105
00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 2: you listen to all of this, but I'll explain how

106
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,480
Speaker 2: it works. One of the challenges with developing new contraceptives

107
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 2: for men is that after puberty, a man produces about

108
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,359
Speaker 2: one thousand sperm a second, and that is a lot

109
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,839
Speaker 2: to stop from reaching fertilization. This new contraception, instead of

110
00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:39,839
Speaker 2: trying to reduce sperm production, basically stops the sperm from swimming. Now,

111
00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:43,839
Speaker 2: in mammals, sperm is stored in a dormant state, but

112
00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,640
Speaker 2: during ejaculation, an enzyme is stimulated. It's got a long name,

113
00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 2: so we're just going to call it sac. And the

114
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,120
Speaker 2: scientists realize that this enzyme was a key part of fertilization,

115
00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,400
Speaker 2: so they identified a potential inhibitor of that enzyme and

116
00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,960
Speaker 2: went on to give that inhibit I to male mice.

117
00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 2: They found that it rapidly and temporarily renders mice infertile.

118
00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:07,039
Speaker 2: Do you want to see a video of what it

119
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:07,520
Speaker 2: looks like.

120
00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 3: A choice?

121
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,400
Speaker 4: Here, I'm seeing a sperm sw I mean, real quick,

122
00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,320
Speaker 4: Michael phelps a sperm.

123
00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,600
Speaker 2: So on the left side of the video is sperm

124
00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,880
Speaker 2: as it usually is, which is doing the worm. It's

125
00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,880
Speaker 2: just fast based going for gold. And then on the

126
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,120
Speaker 2: right he finished, yes, on the right is what happens

127
00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,039
Speaker 2: when the sperm has an inhibitor.

128
00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 3: Okay, so it's a very subdued sperm.

129
00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:38,720
Speaker 2: Very chilled out sperm. So Basically, the scientists are saying

130
00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,640
Speaker 2: that they could potentially take that inhibitor to make an

131
00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,799
Speaker 2: oral contraceptive pill that could be taken just before sex

132
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,920
Speaker 2: and would prevent pregnancy for a short time. That's why

133
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,120
Speaker 2: we're calling it an on demand contraception.

134
00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,000
Speaker 3: We'll be back right after this.

135
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,159
Speaker 4: Okay, So you're saying that this contraception has worked well

136
00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,120
Speaker 4: in mice, but I know you said it's still a

137
00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,080
Speaker 4: while off until it's available. Do we have any indication

138
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,640
Speaker 4: yet about whether this will actually be successful in humans.

139
00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,520
Speaker 2: Well, the next episode tests it on rabbits before we

140
00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,760
Speaker 2: get to humans, and researchers say they are optimistic. They

141
00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,480
Speaker 2: actually say the human reproductive systems are even more suitable

142
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,040
Speaker 2: for this type of drug than mice. And the reason

143
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,680
Speaker 2: there is that female mice don't have a cervix like

144
00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 2: humans to provide a barrier between the vagina and uterus. Basically,

145
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,520
Speaker 2: in short, mice have less barriers on the way to

146
00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,680
Speaker 2: the journey of fertilization. So if this new drug does

147
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,720
Speaker 2: work in mice, it's pretty good signs for human effectiveness.

148
00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,240
Speaker 4: Okay, So my natural next question, Sam, would you take

149
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:44,240
Speaker 4: it absolutely?

150
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,800
Speaker 2: I think that I've actually said this on the public

151
00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,840
Speaker 2: record before I'll search it and try to find it

152
00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,880
Speaker 2: that I would have no problem, and I think that

153
00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,920
Speaker 2: there is a changing attitude amongst young men.

154
00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:59,200
Speaker 3: What do you think your friends would do?

155
00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:00,480
Speaker 2: I think they would all take it.

156
00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:05,160
Speaker 4: Okay, friends of Sam right into us, even if you're

157
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:06,200
Speaker 4: not Sam's friends.

158
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:07,720
Speaker 3: We'd love to hear from you.

159
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 4: We're doing a poll at the moment to understand what

160
00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:14,200
Speaker 4: sentiments in our audience are about this issue, and we'd

161
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,160
Speaker 4: love to hear from you. There is a link in

162
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,800
Speaker 4: the show notes if you want to go fill it out.

163
00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,160
Speaker 4: It'll take you thirty seconds. And I think it's a

164
00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:21,280
Speaker 4: really interesting topic.

165
00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,200
Speaker 2: I'm having a look at some of the results now.

166
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,520
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm calling an election, Zara, but I

167
00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,400
Speaker 2: am seeing an early trend towards a yes vote for

168
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,400
Speaker 2: the question of would you trust a male contraceptive pill

169
00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,280
Speaker 2: if scientists confirmed its safety and effectiveness. The poll's still open,

170
00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,959
Speaker 2: so if you're listening, have a vote, and we'll check

171
00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:40,160
Speaker 2: in with the results tomorrow.

172
00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:44,760
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us on the Daily OS.

173
00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:46,960
Speaker 4: We'd love if you could give us a rating or

174
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,720
Speaker 4: a review on whatever app you're.

175
00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:49,559
Speaker 3: Using right now.

176
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:53,040
Speaker 4: It helps new people find us and join the TDA community,

177
00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:53,840
Speaker 4: Have a great day,