Vasectomy Kill Switch

A German carpenter has invented a valve which he claims will revolutionise contraception, by allowing a man to turn the flow of sperm from his testicles on and off at the flick of a switch.

The valve he has developed is to be implanted in 25 men in trials starting this year.

The tiny valves are less than a inch long and weigh less than a tenth of an ounce. They are surgically implanted on the vas deferens, the ducts which carry sperm from the testicles, in a simple half-hour operation.

They are controlled with a simple on-off switch which the man can reach under the skin of his scrotum.

So far Mr Bimek himself is the only man who had them implanted. He underwent the operation under a local anaesthetic so he could help direct the surgeon.

Hartwig Bauer, the urologist who carried out the surgery, told Spiegel the valve was preferable to a vasectomy.