New (scrotum) implant allows men to turn their fertility on and off

Trine Jensen-Burke

Pills, coils and condoms; are they all set to become extinct now?

A German entrepreneur has designed a gadget that can spell the end of many traditional methods of birth control, as well as vasectomies.

According to inventor Clemens Bimek, the vale, an internal “sperm switch,” puts men in charge of their own fertility, by allowing them to either allow or hinder sperm ejaculation – all through the flicking of a little switch located in their scrotum.

Meaning, if a man has no desire to become a father (or already is one, but have no dreams of extending his brood), he simply flicks the switch “on” so that the flow of sperm is diverted back to his testicles, making him temporarily infertile. And then, should he get broody at a later point, all he has to do is flick the switch back, allowing for sperm ejaculation.

The 1,8 cm long implant weighs only 2 grams and takes about half an hour to be surgically inserted while the patient is under local anaesthetic.

The Bimek SLV is implanted in the spermatic ducts with a rocker switch – which can be located easily by hand through the thin skin of the scrotum – and turned on and off.

In its closed state the valve prevents sperm cells from leaving the testicles and mixing with the semen before ejaculate, and, like a vasectomy, the sperm is instead reabsorbed into the body.

The difference, however, is of course that while vasectomies cannot always be reversed, the Bimek SLV allows a man to “turn” his fertility back on whenever he likes.

Note: The makers warn it will take between three and six months for men to get rid of any lingering sperm cells in the seminal glands or prostate, so additional protection would be needed initially if used as a contraceptive.

Switching it back the other way, however, should give immediate results as the body does not take a break from producing sperm cells.