A man enrolled in a trial of what may become the first male hormonal contraceptive said it was an opportunity for men to start taking responsibility.
James Owers, a 29-year-old PhD student from Edinburgh, and his partner are one of 450 couples across the UK who will trial the gel.
It contains the hormones progesterone – which is in the female birth control pill – and testosterone.
Progesterone stops the testicles from producing sperm while the testosterone replenishes stores of the male sex hormone which fall as fertility is reduced.
Mr Owers said it takes just 30 seconds each day to put on and that he was keen to help develop more options for men.
James Owers (pictured), a 29-year-old PhD student in Edinburgh, said the trial of a male contraceptive gel was a good opportunity to add to a discussion around men's responsibility towards contraception and added it's 'very little effort' to use
The gel, called NES/T, is being trialled in Sweden, Kenya and Chile as well as in Manchester and Edinburgh, The Guardian reported.
It is a similar consistency to hand sanitiser gel and has to be rubbed into the shoulders, upper arms and chest every night.
Mr Owers told Sky News today it was 'very little effort' to put on and dries quickly without giving off a smell.
Couples taking part in the trial must take a leap of faith and avoid using any other form of contraception for a year.
Speaking about his decision to join, Mr Owers said: 'I thought it was a pretty good opportunity to really make a difference into the discourse about responsibility in terms of contraception.
'At the moment men only really have a vasectomy or the condom and, if you want to have kids in the future, vasectomy isn't such a great idea and condoms are very, very ineffective. The recorded failure rate of condoms is 17 per cent.
'So I was quite keen to, just from a selfish perspective, get more options and to help develop those.'
The contraceptive gel contains the hormones progesterone and testosterone.
The progesterone, trial researcher Dr Cheryl Fitzgerald told Sky News, essentially sends a signal to the brain's pituitary gland to shut down the production of sperm in the testicles.
It takes between six and 12 weeks for the man's sperm count to drop to make him clinically infertile, meaning he can't get a woman pregnant.
But because the testicles also produce most of the body's
