Condoms no good against some sexually transmitted diseases

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 12 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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President Bush and his administration would like condom packages to have warning labels on them. They want the labels to point out that condoms do not protect against some STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

Apparently, HPV (Human Papillomavirus) can still spread, even if the couple who are engaging in sex use a condom.

HPV is a widespread STD. We do not know much about it. However, if it is untreated it can cause genital warts, or even cervical cancer.

Dr. Daniel G. Schultz from the FDA said 'The agency has developed a regulatory plan to provider condom users with a consistent labeling message and the protection they should expect from condom use.'

Condoms currently have labels telling you there is some protection against AIDS. However, they say nothing about HPV.

It will be necessary to label the condoms in a way that alerts people about the limits of condoms without putting people off using them as they do help reduce the spread of AIDS, chlamydia and gonorrhea.

This problem was faced in 2000. President Clinton asked the FDA to have another look at the labeling of condoms. Nothing was done because of fears that it would affect the control of AIDS, chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Some people say that teaching people to refrain from sex is the best solution. However, a recent survey in the USA found that teenagers who pledged to abstain from sex until they were married had the same rate of sexually transmitted diseases as teenagers who were sexually active. So putting that idea into practice would be pointless.

The White House still wants to spend lots of money promoting abstinence. They plan to double spending on this to $270 million.

Two million people in the USA get HPV each year. 4,000 women die from cervical cancer each year.

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