Reflections and Evaluations

1)Summary on “The Revolutionary New Birth Control Method for Men”

 -General Overview (The Breakthrough)

In India, maverick Indian Scientist, Sujoy Guha, has made a breakthrough in Birth Control, after endeavouring for thirty years, refining  the new idea of a new method of birth control whilst dealing with political ramifications. This new method abbreviated as RISUG, which would represent one of the biggest advancements in male birth control since the invention of the male condom. RISUG would be the equivalent of the female Birth Control Pill, though facing harder conditions ahead to be approved. RISUG  constitutes of a nontoxic polymer that forms a coating on the inside of the vas, of which chemically incapacitates the sperm, resulting in them being incapable of fertilization

 -Testing (1993 first testing) and Commercialization and Globalization

RISUG has performed well, with all subjects were azoospermic, hence explicitly showing its effectiveness. Further along, leading Canadian Vasectomy and member of WHO, Ronald Weiss attempted to commercialized the procedure in US but was unable to find a corporate partner. Prior to that Guha’s new method has been gaining attention beyond India and is flooded with email on queries. Succeeding Weiss was a woman named Elaine Lissner founded a nonprofit advocacy group, financially supporting RISUG’s developments.

~Biology Learning Journey Reflection

Pt.1-My General Perspective and Idea on Birth Control as a General Topic rather than just a Scientific Topic

Birth Control came to me as a topic of more than just ‘curiosity’, birth control as a scientific topic transcended into one that entangled itself with various socio political and economic areas and allured me with the fact that it was more than just stopping pregnancy but it could be life changing, being of much significance as it could make a world of difference in developing countries and on the world at large. For example population booms in China and India, of which the magnitude of numbers in terms of population help bolster and booming the economy from nothing to the second largest in the world, due to the manufacturing industry, which of course grew rapidly due to cheap labour, as people are aplenty, but also with such large population came with detriments such as demands for housing, education, higher unemployment and more ‘chaos’ throughout. Thus Birth Control was a much more interesting and alluring topic as it was more than just biology and scientific studies, research and new breakthroughs as Scientists foray deeper and deeper, but it was something of a grander scale that affected many aspects, showing not only the science and mechanics of Biology but also the science of this world (Social Science, Political Science, et cetera).

Pt.2

The most Interesting aspect of Birth Control is the actual complexity of the entire topic, aside from just its ramifications and interrelations with other current affairs topic,  when talking about birth control two things come up, condoms and birth control pills, and frankly ‘speaking’ I have never heard about sterilization until embarking on my research during this Biology Learning Journey, and fragments of it during Geography class. Birth control, in this case, non invasive Birth Control, explicitly captured me, with its complexity and sophistication behind the the actual process, for example the advances and research so as to create polymer to be injected into the vas deferens which is the vessel where sperms travel through during ejaculation. Next, was how the polymer interacted or reacted and ‘scrambled up the Genetic Material and structure of the Sperm so as to incapacitate it rendering it unable to fertilize the Zygote.The scientific advancement in this sector has been made explicit through its effectivity and safety or lowered risks. For example, even after eight years of utilizing RISUG, the chemical markers of prostate health are all within normal range for men. A 2005 publication showed that accessory reproductive organs likewise remained normal. Furthermore, unlike traditional vasectomy, in monkey tests, RISUG does engender sperm granulomas (inflammatory reactions to sperm leakage from the reproductive tract into surrounding tissue) or an immune reaction to clean them up ,eliminating the painful nodules that a minor percentage of men experience after vasectomy. Finally, the inner surface of the vas deferens also returns back to normal upon removing RISUG. These all show that RISUG has even  lesser impact on reproductive organs in comparison to vasectomy. Lastly it was its non invasive reversal and the fact that it could be easily reversed whilst possessing such effectivity in its effects, easily and successfully reversed non invasively, or simply without operation. The advancement of such medicinal operations, would allow for more effective and safer procedures performed on humans, thus benefitting all, thus marking a milestone in our understanding of biology at large and on the Scientific studies of humans.

Pt. 3-The challenges faced during the learning process and other ramifications

The main challenge faced during this learning journey was faced imminently after the start of this project as searching for a suitable subtopic and an article proved difficult as many articles and publications required really deep understanding of scientific concepts beyond my capacity, but besides that, the actual most crucial problem I faced was locating an apt article that was of enough depth and importance. Searching for an article proved exasperating, but endurance was important as it took me hours to search for one that suited well under the sub-topic of sterilization as most articles focused upon the social effect, controlling population sizes, religious, against the Christianity, as this ‘impedes the natural course of things’, thus finding one that focused on more scientific reasoning was challenging. Secondly, was the dilemma on the topic itself as it was a bit sensitive to my religion, hence I had conflicting views and perspectives as to the evaluation of the entire procedure of RISUG or Birth Control at large, or simply weighing the pros and cons in an impartial justified manner.

~Resolution

In a nutshell, the Biology Learning Journey was one that tested my ability as a Biology Student but yet opened my perspective of not only science but how science is related with some many other things and factors, such as social and political ones, but also empowered me to do more and tingled my curiosity as the to larger picture of Science other than just purely processes and mechanics.