Safe Sex Results

Condom Facts:

• Condoms have a teenage failure rate of 20%;¹ among young, unmarried minority women the annual failure rate is 36.3%; among unmarried Hispanic women it is as high as 44.5%.²
• Latex condoms have similar failure rates for protecting against STDs. Three million new cases of teenage sexually transmitted diseases are reported each year.³
• All latex condoms have naturally occurring holes. Naval Research Laboratory researchers, using powerful electron microscopes, have found that new latex, from which condoms are fabricated, contains “maximum inherent flaw(s)” [that is, holes] 70 microns in diameter.⁴ A sperm is 50 microns.⁵

• The average hole size in condoms is 5 microns. The HIV virus is 1/10 micron.⁵     
• Among married couples using condoms where one partner was HIV positive, 17% of the healthy partners became infected within a year and a half, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.⁶
• One-third of teenage pregnancies occur while a contraceptive (sic) is being used.⁷
• Poor test results shocked both condom makers and federal officials when 1 out of 5 condom batches tested by the FDA fails to meet U.S. standards.
• There is insufficient evidence that condoms prevent most sexually transmitted diseases according to a report released by the National Institute of Health.⁸
• One-fourth of polled Consumer Reports readers said that in the last year, they had a condom break during sex. One in eight reported at least two breaks in the past year. Another test projected anywhere from 1.5% to 10% breakage, depending on the brand of condom used.⁹
• The Food and Drug Administrations says that leaks in no more than 4 out of 1000 condoms is an acceptable standard. In 1990, the N.Y. City Department of Health recalled 750,000 condoms distributed through social service organizations because samples from that group didn’t meet the FDA standard.¹⁰
• In one test, 33% (1/3) of the latex condoms leaked HIV-sized particles.¹¹

What the Experts Say

• Planned Parenthood (a family planning, “safe sex” promoter) data indicated that teenagers are almost inevitably ineffective users of contraceptives because of their developmental stage.¹²
• Condoms fail 3 to 36% of the time in preventing pregnancy, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
• Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, past president of the American Association of Sex Education, Counselors and Therapists, spoke to over 800 colleagues who write literature and teach sex education to young adults. They recommended condoms for “safe sex.” Dr. Crenshaw said, “I asked them (800 people) if they had available the partner of their dreams and knew that person carried the (AIDS) virus, would they have sex, depending on a condom for protection? No one raised their hand!”¹³ These are the people telling us condoms protect from the deadly HIV virus—yet they wouldn’t risk it themselves!

• Latex condoms break down in heat. Dr. David G. Collart, Ph.D. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, wrote: “...condoms are heat and cold sensitive yet they are not transported in climate controlled vehicles. In a study of condoms,72,000 trucks were checked and actual photographs taken of eggs frying in the back of the trucks used for condom distribution.”¹⁴
• Researchers, Gotzsche and Hording, did a study of condom failure rate during sex. They found that the breakage and slip off rate during use is so high it makes condoms ineffective for protection against HIV.¹⁵
• According to Robert C. Noble, an infectious disease physician and AIDS doctor to the poor, “Passing out condoms to teenager is like issuing them squirt guns for a four alarm blaze. Condoms just don’t hack it. We should stop kidding ourselves.”¹⁶
• When doctors work on someone with AIDS, they put on two pairs of latex gloves (the same material used to make condoms), a full gown over their clothes, a mask and goggles. Even then, they say they don’t feel completely “safe.”
• Condoms are not “safe sex” according to a government-funded study for condom evaluation.¹⁷

1.  Elise Jones, et al., “Contraceptive Failure Rates Based on the 1988 NSFG” Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 24, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1992, pp. 12-15
2.  Elise F. Jones and Jacqueline Darroch Forrest, “Contraceptive Failure in the United States: Revised Estimates from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth” Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 21, #3, May/June 1989, p. 105
3.  Lloyd J. Kolbe, Director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health for the Centers of Disease Control, Quoted by Charles S. Taylor, “Survey: Most High School Students Have Had Sex,” UPI, Jan. 3, 1992
4.  “Anomalous Fatigue Behavior in Polysoprene,” Rubber Chemistry and Technology vol. 62, 683
5. Roland, C.M. and Sobieski, J.W. (1989) Rubber Chemistry and Technology vol. 62, 683
6.  Margaret A. Fischl, et al., “Evaluation of Heterosexual Partners, Children and Household Contacts of Adults with AIDS,” Journal of the American Medical Association 257:640 (1987)
7.  Michael Schwartz and James H. Ford, “Family Planning Clinics: Cure or Disease of Teenage Pregnancy?” Linacre Quarterly, May 1982, p. 148
8.  The Star Beacon, Aug. 2001, article reprinted from the News Press of Fort Myers on the effectiveness of condoms
9.  “Can You Rely on Condoms?”, Consumer Reports, March 1989, p. 135
10.  “750,000 Condoms are Recalled,” New York Times, Nove. 28, 1990, p.B4
11.  Sexually Transmitted Diseases vol. 19, 230-234 (1992)
12.  Marion Howard and Judith Blamey McCabe, “Helping Teenagers Postpone Seuxal Involvement,” Family Planning Perspectives, Jan/Feb 1990, vol. 22, #1, p.21
13.  6/19/87, Congress on Sexology, Heidelberg, Germany
14.  Collart, D. Ph.D., Clark Atlanta University, Condoms, A Users Right To Know, Impact, Issue 3, 1-2 (1993)
15.  Gotzsche, P.C. & Hording, M. (1988) Scand. J. Infect. Dis. 20, 233-234
16.  Robert Noble, M.D., “There is No Safe Sex,” Newsweek, April 1, 1991, p 8
17. USFDA and Dept. of HHS, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 1987