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The Spin on Condoms
Concerned Women of America ^ | 6/26/2003 | Kathryn Hooks

Posted on 06/26/2003 4:15:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Study shows lack of evidence for condom effectiveness in preventing STDs

"You're entering a no spin zone!"

So cautions Bill O’Reilly on Fox News channel's The O'Reilly Factor, a program that polls indicate is the most watched cable news program in the USA. The show’s popularity indicates that people are tired of spin; they want to hear information straight, fair, and balanced. While there may be “no spin zones” on cable television –– and some people debate that assertion –– what about spin in other arenas?

What about the spin on “safe sex” and condoms?

The topic of sex ignites a controversial debate over the use and effectiveness of condoms. The STD epidemic in America elevates the intensity of the condom debate because condoms are portrayed as the "best" method to cure an epidemic that is thriving on young people. According to a 2000 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 65 million people live with an incurable STD, and in addition, 15 million more people become infected each year. Of those 15 million, young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 represent two-thirds of the total.

In 2000 the National Institutes of Health released a report titled "Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention." In response to this study conducted by a diverse panel, Dr. Willard Cates Jr., a researcher for Family Health International, expressed concern about the possibility of misinterpretation of some of the negative aspects of condoms found by the study. In a 2002 editorial he wrote," this negative interpretation might serve to discourage condom use and thus enhance the spread of STDs." He went on to write, "Thus, we need a positive spin to our messages to encourage their use."

Is it condom spin? You decide.

The back of a Durex condom box states, "Durex High Sensation Condoms set you free to enjoy the pleasure of sex while being confident that you're protected." (emphasis added) The next paragraph states, "If used properly, Durex latex condoms will help reduce the risk of . . . catching or spreading HIV infection (AIDS) and many other sexually transmitted diseases." (emphasis added) Planned Parenthood claimed that the NIH study on condom effectiveness "confirmed that condoms are the best method for sexually active people to prevent STDs." (emphasis added).

The report did conclude that condoms could reduce the risk of HIV and gonorrhea. However, concerning the other six STDs studied, the panel reported "because of limitations in study designs there was insufficient evidence from the epidemiological studies on these diseases to draw definite conclusions about the effectiveness of the latex male condom in reducing the transmission of these diseases." The study did not say condoms prevented HIV and gonorrhea but that the risk was reduced. If a condom is used 100% of the time, one has a 50/50 chance of contracting gonorrhea and a 15% chance of contracting HIV. What happens to those individuals in the 15 %? They die; the condom did not prevent HIV. Knowing the extent of the personal risk means a lot to any person in that 15%.

The seriousness of the HIV issue drives the pro-condom debate, but what about the lack of evidence showing that condoms reduce the risk of other "hidden" STDs?

A 2000 CDC study on the trends of STDs found that of the 15 million newly infected people with STDs each year, only 1% of them are infected with HIV. The study also showed that among teenagers the most common STDs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, and human papillomairus, HPV.

· Chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility if untreated. The Medical Institute for Sexual Health reported that 85% of women with Chlamydia show no symptoms, leaving the disease often undetected until it is too late.

· According to the CDC, each year one million people contract herpes, and 90% of those infected are unaware they carry the incurable disease. This disease causes reoccurring painful ulcers and increases the risk of one becoming infected with HIV.

· The most common viral STD is HPV, and this incurable disease infects 5.5 million people every year. The National Institutes of Health reported that HPV causes 93% of all cervical cancers. Ironically, Planned Parenthood spinned this statistic as an "anti-choice radical" myth to distort "scientific fact in order to discourage condom use." HPV goes undetected by 70% of those with the disease. As reported by the American Cancer Society and the CDC, more deaths occurred in 1999 due to HPV than AIDS.

According to Dr. John Diggs, Jr., "[for HPV] there is evidence that condoms do not work. For [other STDs], there is insufficient evidence that [condoms] do work. In either case, it is dishonest public health policy to tell people to use them for prevention when it is not provable that they work."

With millions of teens contracting these STDs each year, the false sense of condom protection projected by authority figures (schools) is reprehensible. According to an American Family Physician journal, the number of sexual partners is linked directly as the most important risk factor in contracting an STD. Therefore the only true "preventive" measure against STDs is abstinence until marriage. Pro-condom groups criticize this prescription arguing that it is either dangerous to repress sexual urges or people lack the self-control, especially teens. The message teens receive about sex will shape their decisions with consequences that affect the rest of their lives. Condoms endorse "safe sex," yet when measured by the data, promiscuous sex even with condoms is still not at all "safe."

Our founding father George Washington wisely pointed out, "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

How many "failures"- death, disease, emotional devastation - do we have to encounter before we quit spinning excuses for condoms and promiscuous sex?


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: birthcontrol; condoms; cwa; safesex; society; std
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Our founding father George Washington wisely pointed out, "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
1 posted on 06/26/2003 4:15:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah; Desdemona; Polycarp; cpforlife.org; RomanCatholicProlifer
ping
2 posted on 06/26/2003 4:16:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Cool. This gives me a good excuse not to use condoms anymore. They don't work anyway.
3 posted on 06/26/2003 4:21:12 PM PDT by squidly
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To: squidly
"Spin-On" condoms?

Is that like a "screw-top" wine cap?

Are they compatible?
4 posted on 06/26/2003 4:26:01 PM PDT by autoresponder (. . . . SOME CAN*T HANDLE THE TRUTH . . . THE NYT ESPECIALLY!)
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To: nickcarraway
The Spin on Condoms

Sounds painful. I've only tried the roll-on and pull-on types.

5 posted on 06/26/2003 4:30:03 PM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: nickcarraway
I worked in the elastomeric medical barrier protection business for seven years as an R&D engineer.

There is no such thing as a natural rubber latex (NRL) condom that doesn't leak; they all have a degree of porosity. Satisfactory performance is usually determined by an acceptable leak rate of air.

NRL does repel seminal fluid and blood borne pathogens, but given frequent use, one eventually will find a serious leaker, especially among the products shipped to the third whirled.

NRL also has shelf life and thermal stability issues that reduce its mechanical integrity. It also has the propensity to induce an allergic response in those subjected to frequent extended use (prostitutes are prime candidates there). The allergic response is usually a contact dermatitis that can leave the user more susceptible to infection or more capable of transmitting the pathogen.
6 posted on 06/26/2003 4:31:58 PM PDT by Carry_Okie
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
"The Spin on Condoms
Sounds painful. I've only tried the roll-on and pull-on types."

No, no, you've got it wrong.
This means that after you do the "roll-on and pull-on" that you *then* spin your partner around your newly established "axis".
7 posted on 06/26/2003 4:34:30 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: nickcarraway
I found that "spin-on" condoms tend to leak more than the roll, pull and tug variety! But that's just me.

8 posted on 06/26/2003 4:35:46 PM PDT by lawdude (Liberalism: A failure every time it is tried.)
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
Does this replace the cork screw?
9 posted on 06/26/2003 4:36:25 PM PDT by whereasandsoforth
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
The tough part is suffering through getting it threaded to accept the universal spin on condom..
10 posted on 06/26/2003 4:47:44 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: nickcarraway
Everyone has already made all the good jokes.
11 posted on 06/26/2003 4:48:54 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog (Not all those who wander are lost)
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To: whereasandsoforth
"Honey, This might be the wine talking but......

...I think I want MORE wine".

12 posted on 06/26/2003 4:50:35 PM PDT by JOE6PAK (Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.)
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To: joesnuffy
Also, some of us have course threads and others have very fine threads. Some, microfine.
13 posted on 06/26/2003 4:51:18 PM PDT by Bluntpoint
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To: HairOfTheDog
More like overdone the jokes...
14 posted on 06/26/2003 4:52:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Bluntpoint
Also, some of us have course threads and others have very fine threads. Some, microfine.

,,, you've been peeping?

15 posted on 06/26/2003 4:56:10 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
Better "peeping" than "tweaking!"
16 posted on 06/26/2003 5:48:08 PM PDT by Bluntpoint
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To: joesnuffy
The tough part is suffering through getting it threaded to accept the universal spin on condom..

LMAO - thanks for the mental picture!

17 posted on 06/26/2003 5:57:28 PM PDT by Cathryn Crawford (...you doping libertine!)
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To: joesnuffy
Let's not forget to mention the real decision - - right hand thread or choose left hand thread?
18 posted on 06/26/2003 9:52:54 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon liberty, it is essential to examine principles - -)
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To: nickcarraway
Yeah, looking at the CFWA website, and see they have NO agenda at all.


Now remember kids, don't use condoms. That will significantly reduce the rate of transmission of STDs.
19 posted on 06/27/2003 12:09:25 AM PDT by Skywalk
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To: Skywalk
"Yeah, looking at the CFWA website,
and see they have NO agenda at all."

He doesn't have to look at their website to know they have an agenda,
he just happens to agree with it and is trying to push it here.

Push it here, shove it "there".
20 posted on 06/27/2003 1:01:44 AM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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