Contraceptive Cycles?

When a doctor can find no definite physical reason for a couple's infertility, he looks for subtler clues in the patients' environment. Such investigation might even lead him to ponder new forms of contraception. Now, in a letter to the British Medical Journal, Dr. Emanuel Saphier, a general practitioner in the London suburb of Sutton, tells of one successful case of medical sleuthing and prescription. The patient, a childless man who rode a bicycle 21 hours a day, was told to give up his cycling.

Why blame the bicycle? Dr. Saphier knew that sperm production can be reduced by tight clothing that warms the testicles. "On the theory that long hours in the saddle could create at least as hostile an environment as tight pants," he writes, "I stopped him cycling." Result: "As luck would have it, the wife is now pregnant." Though Saphier avoids unscientific conclusions, he suggests an intriguing possibility: "Cyclists can have children, but perhaps in a marginal case undue cycling could make a difference. Conversely, what a healthy contraceptive practice this could be."

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