throughout europe. it resembles the drug mpa used in america. estonia on june 5, 2012, estonia passed a law that allows voluntary chemical castration as a part of complex treatment for less serious sex offenders as an alternative of imprisonment. however, the treatment is rarely used in practice. germany in the 1960s, german physicians used antiandrogens as a treatment for sexual paraphilia. moldova on march 6, 2012, moldova legislated forcible chemical castration of child molesters; the law came into effect on july 1, 2012. north macedonia in october and november 2013, north macedonia authorities were working on developing a legal framework and standard procedure for implementation of chemical castration that would be used for convicted child molesters. the castration is intended to be voluntarily, where as for the child molesters that repeat the criminal act it should be mandatory. poland on september 25, 2009, poland legislated forcible chemical castration of child molesters. this law came into effect on june 9, 2010; therefore in poland "anyone guilty of raping a child under the age of 15 can now be forced to submit to chemical and psychological therapy to reduce sex drive at the end of a prison term". portugal in 2008, an experimental intervention program was launched in three portuguese prisons: carregueira (belas, sintra), paços de ferreira and funchal. the program developers note the voluntary nature of the program a crucial factor in its success. they initially planned to cover ten inmates per prison, contemplating a possible enlargement to other prisons in the future. the program also included a rehabilitation component. russia in october 2011, the russian parliament approved a law that allows a court-requested forensic psychiatrist to prescribe the chemical castration of convicted sex offenders who have harmed children under the age of 14. united kingdom in the united kingdom, computer scientist alan turing, famous for his contributions to mathematics and computer science, pleaded guilty in 1952 to a charge of gross indecency for engaging in homosexual acts and accepted chemical castration as a term of his probation, thus avoiding imprisonment. at the time, homosexual acts between males were illegal and homosexual orientation was widely considered to be a mental illness that could be treated with chemical castration. turing experienced side effects such as gynecomastia (breast enlargement) and bloating of the physique. he died two years later, with the inquest returning a verdict of suicide. in 2009 british prime minister gordon brown issued a public apology for the "appalling" treatment of turing after an online petition gained 30,000 signatures and international recognition. he was given a posthumous royal pardon in december 2013. a law allowing voluntary chemical castration was created in the uk in 2007 by then home secretary john reid. on april 30, 2010, a 30-year-old man in the united kingdom found guilty of attempting to murder a 60-year-old woman in order to abduct and rape her two granddaughters (aged eight and two) agreed to undergo chemical castration as part of the terms of his sentence. he was jailed for a minimum of 10 years at the high court in glasgow. australia in 2010, a 58-year-old repeat child sex offender who had been subject to chemical castration was accused of inappropriately touching and kissing a seven-year-old young girl. he was found not guilty by a jury, which was not informed of the context of his previous offenses. new zealand in new zealand, the antilibidinal drug cyproterone acetate is sold under the name androcur. in november 2000 convicted child sex offender robert jason dittmer attacked a victim while on the drug. in 2009 a study into the effectiveness of the drug by dr david wales for the corrections department found that no research had been conducted in new zealand into the effectiveness and such trials were "ethically and practically very difficult to carry out." objections the american civil liberties union of florida opposes the administration of any drug that is dangerous or has significant irreversible effect as an alternative to incarceration; however, they do not oppose the use of antiandrogen drugs for sex offenders under carefully controlled circumstances as an alternative to incarceration. law professor john stinneford has argued that chemical castration is a cruel and unusual punishment because it exerts control over the mind of sex offenders to render them incapable of sexual desire and subjects them to the physical changes caused by the hormones used. some people have argued that, based on the 14th amendment, the procedure fails to guarantee equal protection: although the laws mandating the treatment do so without respect to gender, the actual effect of the procedure disproportionately falls upon men. in the case of voluntary statutes, the ability to give informed consent is also an issue; in 1984, the u.s. state of michigan's court of appeals held that mandating chemical castration as a condition of probation was unlawful on the grounds that the drug medroxyprogesterone acetate had not yet gained acceptance as being safe and reliable and also due to the difficulty of obtaining informed consent under these circumstances. treatment of cancer a major medical use of chemical castration is in the treatment of hormone-dependent cancers, such as some prostate cancer, where it has largely replaced the practice of surgical castration. chemical castration involves the administration of antiandrogen drugs, such as cyproterone acetate, flutamide, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists.