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Science

Drug Companies Plan Male Contraceptive Pill 100

TamMan2000 writes "I can hear the trolls now, with their jokes about how nobody who reads slashdot will ever score... But, incase any of us ever do score the male pill could soon be a reality."
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Drug Companies Plan Male Contraceptive Pill

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  • by Violet Null ( 452694 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @06:52PM (#4727078)
    ...watching the antics of celebrities and athletes as they deal with their illegitimate children in front of the media.

    Future generations will not know this joy.
    • M. Jackson (Score:3, Funny)

      by SeanAhern ( 25764 )
      watching the antics of celebrities and athletes as they deal with their illegitimate children in front of the media.

      Dunno what it is, but I read that, "as they dangle their illegitimate children in front of the media.

      Michael Jackson, anyone?
  • by tswinzig ( 210999 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @06:53PM (#4727088) Journal
    ... impotence."
  • As long as there's no flipper babies, right Don? ... It was only a couple of flipper babies!

    But really, isn't the chance of some deformed (DNA-wise) sperm making it to fertilize and implant going to be higher with this? Especially in couples with only the men taking the pill and not the women?
  • ...there was a "male pill" already being examined by the FDA...? Like it's supposed to be released sometime in the next year!
    Anybody know anything more about that?
  • The link being a Money article, there's no info on how the thing works, and I'm too damn lazy to google. Anybody know anything about the science? My understanding is that it's non-trivial to put the breaks on sperm production. (Insert 4th grade joke here)
  • by greenhide ( 597777 ) <`moc.ylkeewellivc' `ta' `todhsalsnadroj'> on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:03PM (#4727175)
    I think that the technology/knowledge to create birth control pills for men has been around for a while. I imagine they will be much safer, too, since sperm is manufactured on a frequent regular basis, the pill would just have to affect that process. It could probably be taken as little as 24-36 hours before sex to have its effect, and it would most likely not affect hormone levels.

    It's just that pills for men have this one little problem:

    Zero Accountability.

    Oh, sure, if you're using them because you're in a committed relationship and don't want your honey to get pregnant, they'd be useful as heck.

    However, one of the reasons that birth control pills for women work so well is because the women taking them have a *huge* incentive to take them -- they don't want to get pregnant. So, they're much less likely to forget a dose.

    On the other hand, consider a player. He may even have pills, but forget to take them. It'll be important to him, but not as present in his mind as it would in a woman's, because the effects for him are not so dire. For the player, it might rank just above flossing as a priority.

    Also, imagine men saying, "Honey, it's cool, I'm on the pill." A woman has no real reason to lie and say that she's on the pill if she isn't, and if she does lie then she has to suffer the consequences.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:16PM (#4727274)
      Never heard of Old Dirty Bastard's 10 kids by 9 different women?

      Never heard of the Jerry Springer "I want your baby and your money" Show?

      There are many women who lie about using the pill for the express purpose of getting pregnant. Whether they do it for money (ODB) or for love (Jerry Springer style), they do it.

      A guy who sleeps around isn't looking to have a family and would more likely to be diligent in taking the medication correctly. It's a pill in the morning, not some series of injections. It's easy for a playboy to prevent exactly those things that would hamper his playing. Except for STDs of course.
      • 10 kids by 9 different women

        I initially read this as 9 kids by 10 different women. That's a weird thought.

      • I agree Women do Lie.

        Regardless of the fact that a mother has more rights over a child, both the mother and the father have equal legal responibility for a child. Men ( idiots excepted ) do not go around having sex with strange women as if the consequenses to them of getting a girl pregnent were nothing. This isn't the 1800's.

        Men know that the consequences are dire if they get a woman pregnant. It could adversely affect the rest of their life. Most women are bimbos though it takes a while to figure that out sometimes. Most are too stupid to do something simple like take a pill every day. ( this is not sexist since most men are bimbos too and are also too stupid to do something simple like take a pill every day )

        In our culture sex often comes before you know the person enough to trust them about something as important as birth control. At least with a male pill there will be some assurance for men that there will be no unwanted pregnancies when a woman says "Don't worry I'm on the pill"

    • Actually, you'd be surprised. Sometimes the incentives run the other way. It is not unheard for women in a failing relationship (for reasons that remain mysterious to me) to get pregnant and hope, that the pregnancy will hold the relationship together. Also, the law still requires (as far as I know) men to pay child support even if the woman lies about being on the pill and then becomes pregnant. Another reason of course is that having two contraceptive pills will presumably decrease the chances of pregnancy even further than either one alone (the female version of the pill has a small but non-zero failure rate). Similarly, the chances of pregnancy with other contraceptive measures (condoms et al.) will be decreased. A lot of its real utility depends on implementation details like cost (the female version will almost certainly be cheaper because its out of patent), dosing frequency, etc.
    • Here's something /. readers will just get: Suspenders and a Belt. It's a good policy for computer security, and it's a good policy for safe sex. For hook-ups and other short-term relationships resulting in sex, condoms are still the way to go because of STDs; but if you've been with your partner for a long time and trust him or her, physical barrier-free sex can be a very good thing. But some girls have negative reactions to birth control pills; and some are security-minded, like the /. crowd. A male birth control pill helps out those situations.

      Plus, this is important because it gives guys a little more say in whether a girl gets pregnant. (If she gets pregnant by me, anyway.) A lot of people seem to think girls are the only ones who care about getting pregnant by accident, but... I'd have to live with myself, and that, for the rest of my life. Yes, it's not as terrible, but it's still pretty damn bad, and it's not something I'd like to see happen.

    • by Christopher Thomas ( 11717 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @08:45PM (#4728000)
      I think that the technology/knowledge to create birth control pills for men has been around for a while. I imagine they will be much safer, too, since sperm is manufactured on a frequent regular basis, the pill would just have to affect that process.

      Wrong on pretty much all counts, actually.

      Stopping ovulation in women is straightforward - you're trying to stop a once-a-month event, and the female body already has a shut-down mechanism built in (ovulation stops during pregnancy). The pill just triggers this mechanism (tricks the body into thinking it's pregnant).

      Men are designed to produce sperm all the time. There is no built-in shut-down mechanism to trigger. You also have to stop production of *all* of the hundreds of millions of sperm cells produced between sexual encounters, as opposed to stopping just one egg from being released. A male contraceptive that eliminates 99.9% of sperm production is still useless.

      And because you're trying to inhibit a function that's never normally shut down, you have to start from scratch when figuring out how to do it, and live with the fact that a male contraceptive that's 100% effective runs a real risk of causing permanent damage if not very carefully designed.

      It could probably be taken as little as 24-36 hours before sex to have its effect, and it would most likely not affect hormone levels.

      Hormone manipulation is just about the only way to affect sperm production. What do you think drives it? Hormones are the body's signalling system for stopping/starting body processes.

      It's only now, after decades of research, that relatively safe, reasonably effective approaches to male contraception are being developed, and we have a long way to go before they're mature.
      • ^^^ Nice choice of subjects. :-) ^^^
      • A sperm count that is 99.9% lower than normal would make it extremely hard to get a woman pregnant, just ask any fertility counselor. It would be impossible to produce a contraceptive for men or women that works 100% of the time... 99.9% is conisdered good enough.
      • I seem to remember hearing that to actually produce at a potent level, men require a certain temperature, etc in their nether-regions. Way back when button-up tight-pants were in style (we're talking very tight, and not designed to be loose on your boys), there was a marked problem with childlessness. Seems that when the pants mashed everything together, it was too close to the body's heat and thus less production.

        I believe it's also related to why you drop down in hot climate and "tuck in" in hot weather. Perhaps something that offset the temperature balance would also act as a control method? Of course, I'm not sure if those x-century men recovered after going back to normal pants, so it may still be too permanent a solution.
    • It could probably be taken as little as 24-36 hours before sex

      yeah, if your nuts are on overdrive.

      if the pill works on the idea of stopping production of sperm, you're going to have to wait something like a month to clean out the pipes.

      sorry, trying to not be too crass. ;)

    • Personally, I would love to have a safe and effective pill, similar to the one for women. As it is, I'm in one of those long term relationships, and we have sex frequently. My g/f is on the pill, which is nice, helps suppress acne, timing on her periods is regular, etc. Problem is, its only 98% or so effective, which means that there is a 2% chance of her getting pregent if we do it at the wrong time of the month. Cosidering that we are likely to have sex 1 to 2 times during that period, I don't really like the way the math of it starts to work out. So, we bag it. And let me tell you I hate condoms, or as we call them, the wall of anti-orgasm. They are really great if you want to go forever, you can't feel much through them. I would love to have another simple solution.
      I've often thought that a male pill would be perfect for me. She's on hers, I'm on mine, if each pill is indiviually 98% effective that's a much better risk factor, .04% I believe. I could ditch those damn condoms and just enjoy better sex. Of course, everything I have heard about the male pills, which are being tested, is that they are basically huge doses of Testosterone. Which can lead to being even harrier, more violent, and whole host of other problems. Given the choice between that and condoms, I'd choose condoms. As it is, we have just worked out a system, where by we start without it, then, as I get close, we stop and put it on. Its not perfect, and does occasionally lead to "slips" but that is what the pill is for, as a saftey net for the few times that, for whatever reason, I don't have my hat on.

    • However, one of the reasons that birth control pills for women work so well is because the women taking them have a *huge* incentive to take them -- they don't want to get pregnant. So, they're much less likely to forget a dose.

      Uhm, actually...

      I have a terrible time remembering to take meds in the morning. This became a problem when I was on the pill; there were several weeks when I was using condoms with the pill anyway simply because I'd missed one.

      So I went for Depo-Provera this time. I don't mean to sound like an ad, but one injection every three months? If my Visor can remember it, I'm there, dude. The bonus is I don't get a period! Whoohoo!

      And I will say that I don't trust a man to take a pill in the morning; how can I when, if I'm the one with the most to lose, can't remember to take a pill? No thank you, I'll handle my own contraception. If the boy wants to kick in some money to help pay for it, that's great. But if I had to remind him every morning to take a pill? I suppose I could write a cron job to email him every morning...

      Hmm, scriptable boyfriends. Now there's a thought...
    • Ever heard of child support? Or the fact that men almost always lose custody cases?

      The male pill would be enormously useful. Still it will be important to use condoms if not with a trusted partner, though, to prevent disease.

  • Old news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by netringer ( 319831 ) <.maaddr-slashdot. .at. .yahoo.com.> on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:05PM (#4727188) Journal
    I heard that scientists behind "The Iron Curtain" not only developed male pill years ago - they made abetter one.

    They made a "morning after" pill for men.

    It was 100% effective.

    No patient who tried it ever got pregnant.
  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:11PM (#4727234)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • My girl is on it, once every 3 months she has a jab in her arse. No periods/pms to worry about, which is a big bonus since she is emotionally delicate [Those of you who have been bullied 24/7 for a few years will understand], and I'm always horny ;-)

      It might not stop periods for all women though*, and I've heard some horror stories about it. I'd google some links up if I could remember the name of it. Perhaps that's why drugs have such weird names?

      Ali

      *She bleeds a little bit every 2 or 3 months, but nothing major. She forgot to tell me last time too. I don't mind a little bit like that on my dick, but when I... Nah, people might be eating.

      • Re:Depo (Score:3, Interesting)

        by TamMan2000 ( 578899 )
        I assume you are talking about depo. It is nice for all the reasons you mentioned, but there is one important thing that is not there...

        Decades of data. No studies on the long term effects of not having a period have ever been performed, the uterine lining is supposed to be flushed regularly, no body knows what leaving it in there like that does to the long term health of the uterus.
        • probably the same thing as leaving your contacts in for long periods of time. increased risk of infection, more noticable irritation, and eventually your body adapts to having it around and the side effects become less noticable.
      • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @09:22PM (#4728218)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by km790816 ( 78280 )
          boys should not be able to get their drivers licences until they have the valve installed. It will be closed by default. It can only be openned once the man is out of college and has a job.

          We should invest money is this! Big brother at it's best. Imagine how few losers would be around!

          (No, I'm not serious. But i think it's funny.)
        • Also, some of the girls have experienced weight gain that they did not experience while on the pill.

          That's because Depo's an appetite stimulant. It actually makes you hungrier. The pill just makes you absorb nutrients differently. I've done both, and as long as you excercise and eat the same, you don't have the bloating problem when you're on Depo that you otherwise get with the Pill.
        • Too bad vasectomies are not reversable, as that would be the safe way to go. Isn't the primary reason they are not reversable the fact that the sperm is dumped into the bloodstream and your body produces antobodies which then kill them? So if you have it reversed, your body still kills the little guys? Anyway, I'm no doctor, but I play one sometimes.

          Vasectomies are entirely reversible [marinurology.com]. It can be a little tricky because the procedure is extremely delicate, and thus there isn't a 100% success rate, but it's fairly routine.

          As for all that nonsense about antibodies... Are you serious? What do you think happens to sperm when you don't have sex or masturbate for a while? Pretty much the same thing as what happens when you've had a vasectomy. I've never heard of anyone becoming sterile as a result of being celibate for a while.


      • Now I remember, it's Depo Provera [depoprovera.com], a.k.a. Medroxyprogesterone Acetate.

        Now here's the [possible?] added benefits: Loss of bone density [nih.gov], and Loss of hair [columbia.edu], I'm sure there's plenty of others not listen on the manufacturer's leaflet. Here's some Q+A thingy [columbia.edu], a petition [petitiononline.com], and a Wired article [wired.com].

        Thankfully, my girl seems fine so far. :)

        Happy bonking people!

        Ali

    • That's exactly how this works, external testosterone with a little progestin, no more sperm.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:11PM (#4727241)
    It's called "Geek Reality" and it's a bitter, bitter pill.
  • FDA (Score:2, Funny)

    by xWeston ( 577162 )
    I dont think there is a real need for this anyway.

    The FDA already approved EverQuest for Birth Control Use didnt they?

    It actually works for abstinence too

    Studies showed 100% of people playing everquest had no problems with impregnating women or being impregnated.
    However, 100% of people playing everquest were also found to not leave their house, so that makes it hard.

    Everquest Approved [thedailybull.ca]
  • by gnovos ( 447128 ) <gnovos@NoSpAM.chipped.net> on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:18PM (#4727282) Homepage Journal
    Ha, shows what you know. I'm an avid slashdot reader and I score all the time... just yesterday I got the highest Pac-Man score for the second time in three weeks!
  • by DocSnyder ( 10755 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:22PM (#4727308)
    ...that is, tons of spam:

    CHEAP VIA^H^H^HMALE PILLS ONLY $20 EACH !!!!!!

    Do you want to have GREAT SEX without your girlfriend to get PREGNANT? Check out this GREAT OPPORTUNITY! Order 10 Pills NOW and get 20 FOR FREE!

  • which pill? (Score:2, Funny)

    by PD ( 9577 )
    I don't care what it does, but it'd better be a blue pill.
  • Cop out (Score:4, Funny)

    by I Am The Owl ( 531076 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @07:25PM (#4727328) Homepage Journal
    Contraceptive pills are not effective. In fact, only two contraceptives are 100% effective: abstinence and reading Slashdot.

    Please, people, be responsible.

  • It is about damn time this happened. There has been no technical or biological barriers to producing a non-painful or non-surgical male contraceptive drug like this. It is simply that pharm companies do the vast majority of contraceptive research on women and drugs to hold back their reproduction, rather than looking into the same topic on men. Eventually this comes down to our cultural meme that, for some reason, birth control is the responsibility of the woman rather than the man. A rather sexist policy held up at most drug companies.

    Hell, it may just come down to the fact that most pharm researchers are men, and that there is some curious idea men have that they're somehow less masculine if they don't have a high sperm count. Silly. I for one wouldn't mind it one bit, unless I was trying to concieve. However, most men aren't almost trying to concieve most of the time, so guys: get over it.

    All the same, I'm really glad someone took the initiative to do more than some prototype work on a contraceptive pill for men. I hope it makes it to market.

    But I can't help but wonder... does it fuck with your emotions and hormonal balance in the ways the pill, Norplant and Depo do to women? No matter how much drug companies may try to ignore this, every woman I've known that has gone on the pill or Norplant (never known a depo user) had an absolutely hellish time while her body got used to it- 2-month long periods, unnatural mood swings, huge increases in acne, weight or fatigue; no wonder the decidedly male business of drug development hasn't bothered to find a contraceptive drug for men.
    • > There has been no technical or biological barriers to producing a non-painful or non-surgical male contraceptive drug like this

      You mean except for the side effects of steroids on the original shot, and the fact that the new pill is progestin. Oh goodie. See many women taking testosterone? Nice rant, no substance. Besides, my SO would rather wear a bulletproof vest than trust that the chamber was empty.

    • There has been no technical or biological barriers to producing a non-painful or non-surgical male contraceptive drug like this.

      Excuse me? Stopping sperm production is non-trivial. There is no natural mechanism for stopping sperm production, like there is for egg production. Doing it with drugs has generally required something like large doses of Testosterone, which has serious side effects and isn't consistent enough for practical purposes.

      Stopping egg production, on the other hand, is relatively simple, and there are various natural mechanisms in place for doing so, such as pregnancy and excessively low body fat. Low body fat is obviously a difficult thing to maintain, especially at the level where it effects fertility, and again it isn't consistent enough to be considered effective. Pregnancy, however, is very consistent, even across the animal kingdom. I don't know of a single creature that is fertile during pregnancy.

      This consistency, and the fact that it is a natural mechanism, is why there are birth control pills for women; because it's easy, not because of some aleged (imagined, IMO) prejudice that birth control is a woman's responsibility. It is a fairly simple thing to mess with a woman's biochemistry and make her body think it's pregnant, which is exactly what every birth control pill, shot, or implant does (and if you think women get side-effects from those, just wait until you have to deal with an actual pregnant woman on a daily basis!)

      does it fuck with your emotions and hormonal balance in the ways the pill, Norplant and Depo do to women?

      Of course it does, they only question is how much. There's no way it could work without messing with your hormonal balance, and there's no way your hormones are going to get messed with without having emotional and physical side-effects. The trick will be the same as it has been for female birth control; balancing effectiveness against side effects (dosage), and trading off more annoying side-effects for less annoying ones (formula).

    • But I can't help but wonder... does it fuck with your emotions and hormonal balance in the ways the pill, Norplant and Depo do to women? No matter how much drug companies may try to ignore this, every woman I've known that has gone on the pill or Norplant (never known a depo user) had an absolutely hellish time while her body got used to it- 2-month long periods, unnatural mood swings, huge increases in acne, weight or fatigue; no wonder the decidedly male business of drug development hasn't bothered to find a contraceptive drug for men.

      YEEP! Who the hell do you know?!

      I'm currently on Depo-Provera and was previously on the Pill (Norplant is yicky). Haven't had one emotional problem yet. I usually lose weight when I'm on birth control because I'm doing more aerobic exercise (ie, lots of sex). If the women you know are having that many problems, they should talk to their doctor and ask what the fuck they just put in their bodies.

      The only time I ever had a problem physically while using hormonal contraception was when I was on the Pill and my mother came to visit while she was menopausing. It took my period four months to come off the two-week, um, period with which it was occurring.

  • ....men don't get pregnant!!!!
  • I don't think I would use the male pill. The reason being that it hasn't had the many many tests, trials, studies, and decades of positive experiences with low side effects that the female birth control pill has had.

    Until it becomes well tested (like 20+ years of use by the general population with KNOWN RISKS mapped out), I will steer clear of this and look for other methods.

    Just my two cents.
  • A little piece of advice for the ladies.... If a guy says he's on the pill, use a hat anyway.
  • by mbrubeck ( 73587 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @08:16PM (#4727781) Homepage
    Where the slashdot story says "soon", the CNN article says the product is "likely to be available in seven years."
    • Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on the part of slashdotites.

      "A male contraceptive! I'm gonna be geeky and be the first one on the block to get some of these. w00t! I'll score all the time! Sure, baby, it's cool, my pipes are dry!"
    • Seven years for testing isn't extremely huge. If you find out that after 8 years of use it causes permanent sterility, impotence, etc etc.
      For myself, I'd find 15 years a short time to test something before I go swallowing a pill, or jamming a needle in my leg, no knowing the long-term side-effects.
  • the female contraceptive pills biggest advantage is that if females don't take it, they suffer.
  • by John Hasler ( 414242 ) on Thursday November 21, 2002 @09:11PM (#4728155) Homepage
    ...the male morning after pill.
  • If you lodged any sort of pill in there I guess it would work as a contraceptive. I mean, Hank Hill's dad passed an entire city bus through his euretee...I don't see why a pill in there wouldn't work.
  • male pill (Score:5, Funny)

    by !splut ( 512711 ) <sput@alum.rp[ ]du ['i.e' in gap]> on Thursday November 21, 2002 @10:37PM (#4728754) Journal
    From the official FAQ:

    Q: How was the male contraceptive pill created?
    A: As with most revolutionary discoveries, entirely by accident! A patient involved in a double blind clinical trial for an entirely different product somehow managed to cram a placebo pill into his urethra.

    Q: How does it work?
    A: The pill, or, more accurately, "penile plunger," as it has been technically termed, temporarily obstructs the outlet of the urethra. As a result, the patient is rendered infertile for a full 6 hours, after which time the pill dissolves and dislodges harmlessy.

    Q: Are there any side effects that I should know about?
    A: Being a purely mechanical devide, the male contraceptive pill has very few side effects to worry about. Acute pain and a kidney-stone-like sensation are common. Additionally, patients are advised not to drink prior to or during use of the male pill, due to a slight risk of bladder explosion.
  • I remember hearing on Loveline that a male pill was in development and much closer to market than the seven years this article cites. It would use a different method, too--instead of hormone regulation, it works by somehow paralyzing the sperm so they are ineffective. The drug itself is already used as a heart disease medication and this effect was discovered by accident at fertility clinics. This means that less testing is necessary--they only need to show that it's effective for this new function and not that it's also safe (which they already know). I can't remember the name of the thing at the moment, though.

  • I have read about a small, watch-battery like device being implanted into a women's nether regions and killing sperm with a small current as they pass by.

    Lasts for a few years before the battery dies, apparently.

    Couldn't they implant something like this somewhere along a guy's plumbing? Sure, it's minor surgery, but it's not permanent, reversable, and lasts years.

    Just a thought.
  • Good News (Score:2, Insightful)

    The fewer humans the better.

    I've said it before, and i'll say it again...
    Abortion doctors are america's greatest heroes.
    • I hope you're kidding, you insensitive fuck. I got my gf pregnant this past year and we decided to get an abortion.

      6 months later and we're both very depressed over the loss of a human life (no matter how small).. Every time I hear a joke about abortion or dead babies it crushes me.

      Did we make the wrong decision? Neither of us were ready, but I feel as though I will have this on my soul for the rest of my life (and possibly beyond).

      I don't want to leave this open-ended, but there's no easy way to forget.
    • Wow, I hope you're kidding. I'm pro-choice, but I kind of look at abortion as a necessary evil, my thinking being that people who don't want a child THAT BADLY couldn't possibly be effective parents.

      Oh, and you realize, of course, that if you take your opening statement to its logical conclusion then any sort of mass-murderer would be a hero in your book.

      If this is your attempt at a joke (and a pathetic attempt at that--the worst sin of a joke made in poor taste is for it not to be funny) then please ignore my preaching. OTOH, perhaps you're an extreme pro-lifer satirizing the view of pro-choicers? If so, keep in mind my comment about jokes made in poor taste.
    • Then go stand in traffic till you get killed.
  • If you're in multiple relationships, it's much smarter to use a condom.

    If you're done having babies, it's much easier to have a vascectomy.

    Who is going to choose to continuously pay for something that does who knows what to your body? It's stupid.
  • The world needs more slashdotters not fewer.
  • This technology isn't exactly advanced. I would guess that one of the major reasons why drug companies haven't released such a pill before, is that it would basically spell the end population growth, as we know it. Mikko Woodroffe

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