HEALTH REPORT - Vasectomy Study

By Nancy Steinbach
HEALTH REPORT -July 17, 2002: Vasectomy Study

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A major study has failed to find any link between a man having a vasectomy operation and developing prostate

cancer. A vasectomy is an operation in which a doctor cuts the tubes that carry a man’s sperm¹ from the testes. It
is one of the most effective and widely used methods of birth control around the world. Experts say about five-
hundred-thousand men have vasectomies every year in the United States alone.

Doctors have been concerned for some time about a possible link between the operation and
the development of prostate cancer. Studies done in the past had conflicting results. Some
studies showed no link. But others said men who had vasectomies had an increased chance of
developing prostate cancer. Two studies were done in the United States in nineteen-ninetythree.
The studies said men with vasectomies had a sixty-six percent higher chance of
developing prostate cancer than men who did not have the operation.

But the new study says the operation does not increase the risk of cancer. The results were published in the
Journal² of the American Medical Association³.

It was carried out in New Zealand by researchers at the Dunedin (da-NEE-din) and Wellington Schools of
Medicine. New Zealand has extremely good reporting of cancer cases. And it has the highest rate of vasectomy in
the world. The New Zealand Herald⁴ newspaper reports that about forty percent of men ages forty to seventy years
old have had the operation.

The researchers spoke⁵ to more than two -thousand men. Almost half had recently developed prostate cancer. The
others did not have the disease⁶. All the men were between the ages of forty and seventy-four.

The researchers asked them about their medical histories and those of family members. They also asked about
activities like smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol⁷. The researchers found no difference in the cancer rates
among the men who had vasectomies and those who did not have the operation. They also found no increased
chance of prostate cancer among men who had vasectomies twenty-five or more years earlier.

Other researchers say the New Zealand study is the best one done so far about vasectomy and prostate cancer.
They say it was large enough to have found any link that might exist.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

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1 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

2 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

3 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

4 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

7 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。