Dermot O’Leary says he wouldn’t ‘trust men’ to remember to take male contraceptive pill every day

Broadcaster said he would rather take a pill than have a vasectomy

Dermot O’Leary has said he would not “trust men to be organised” enough to remember to take a male contraceptive pill each time they are about to have sex.

The This Morning presenter revealed he would rather take a birth control pill rather than a vasectomy, but didn’t think men would be vigilant about it.

It comes amid news that a male contraceptive pill has been developed that can be taken “on demand” just before sex.

Scientists said that the pill can block a fertility protein for 24 hours and could be more effective than women’s birth control, which must be taken on a daily basis.

However, the contraceptive for men has not yet been tested in clinical trials, although researchers said they hope to walk into a pharmacy one day and hear a man ask for “the male pill”.

Discussing the development on Wednesday morning (15 February), O’Leary’s co-host Josie Gibson said: “I cannot leave that sort of control in somebody else’s hands.”

She said that O’Leary had once told her: “How do you think we’ve been feeling for years?”

But the broadcaster jumped in and said: “I don’t think I said that. My point is that I’m not sure I would trust a man to remember to take it.”

He explained that there was no “grand conspiracy” about men “lying” about taking a birth control pill specially designed for them, but added: “I just don’t trust them to be organised to take it.

“All joking apart, it’s good that men have to have some responsibility.”

The study into developing a male contraceptive pill tested the non-hormonal compound in mice and found that the animals’ sexual functioning was normal but impregnation did not take place.

The pill temporarily disables an enzyme from sAC (soluble adenylyl cyclase), which prompts cells to swim. Scientists said it wore off three hours later and the male mice recovered their fertility.