Peace all,
Condoms are NOT PROTECTIVE against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV - causes genital warts and cervical/penile cancer), and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) because the active skin lesions can easily be present on areas not covered by the condom. STDs are frequently passed through "skin to skin" contact even when condoms are used.
Condoms have a 3-14 % failure rate against pregnancy (due to rupture, slippage, improper use etc.), and they are not 100 % protective against HIV either due to the same reasons (studies have shown 3-15 % failure rate against HIV). In addition to that, HIV can pass through certain types of "natural" condoms, like those made form sheep's intestines (Ramses, lambskin condoms).
Using two latex condoms simultaneously is not recommended, because the friction of latex on latex could actually weaken the condom and increase the risk of rupture.
Please see the following articles
http//www.all.org/article.php?id=10184
http//www.teencarecenter.org/index.php?p=sheet1&s=factsheets
http//www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band64/b64-4.html
http//www.reproline.jhu.edu/English/1fp/1methods/1condom/condnotes.htm
Excerpt from the first article referenced above
"Condom coverup
On the issue of condom use, however, the CDC has been less than forthright according to a national group of doctors. Just a few days after the NIH released the study referenced above that exposed the truth about condom ineffectiveness, The Physicians Consortium, which has some 2,000 members nationwide, sent a letter, dated July 23, 2001, to President George Bush calling for the resignation of the CDC chief Dr. Jeffery Koplan. The letter said the CDC "has misled millions of women into believing that condoms provide safety... Despite the billions of dollars used to promote a `safe sex' health policy, the CDC lacks clinical research to back its claims."9
The next day, a coalition representing 10,000 doctors, including the Catholic Medical Association, Congressman Dave Weldon, M.D., and former Congressman Tom Coburn, M.D.,10 accused the CDC of routinely breaking federal laws requiring it to dispense accurate information on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing STDs. By improperly promoting condom use, "the CDC has failed in its primary duty to protect public health," said Dr. John Diggs, a member of the executive committee of the Physicians Consortium.11 Diggs also stated, "This has all the earmarks of a good old-fashioned medical cover-up."12"
Also see the following comprehensive report
http//www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20031201_family-values-safe-sex-trujillo_en.html
Excerpts from this report
"6. The concern that condoms do not provide total protection against AIDS and STD?s is not at all new, nor limited to Church circles. Dr. Helen Singer-Kaplan, who founded the Human Sexuality Program at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, Cornell University, wrote in her book, The Real Truth about Women and AIDS ?Counting on condoms is flirting with death?. A Dutch medical journal also stated that, ?Practice shows that there is a great need for a method that prevents both HIV as well as pregnancy. Sad to say, the people still have not become aware that this method cannot be the condom?. In the 1980?s and the 1990?s, questions on the real protection provided by condoms arose from electron microscopic studies on the latex material, a concern related to the fact that the AIDS virus is about 25 times smaller than the sperm cell?s head, 450 times smaller than the sperm cell?s length, and 60 times smaller than the syphilis bacterium.
In 1987, the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled, Condom Industry Seeking Limits on U.S. Study. It stated that ?he condom industry has launched an intensive campaign to weaken, delay or possibly shut down a federally funded Los Angeles study of the effectiveness of condoms in preventing transmission of the AIDS virus? The research has taken on a new element of urgency in the wake of a series of questions raised about the ability of condoms to reliably prevent the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)?. Two years later, the same reporter wrote in an article, 4 Popular Condoms Leak AIDS Virus in Clinical Tests, that ?Four of the nation?s most popular condom brands permitted the AIDS virus to escape in laboratory tests conducted for UCLA, prompting researchers to warn users they should not assume that all condoms work equally well in preventing spread of the disease? Overall, among the thousands of condoms tested, the study found that 0.66% of condoms--more than one of every 200--failed, either allowing water or air to escape, breaking in tensile strength tests or leaking the AIDS virus.?
As a summary of these and other studies, Dr. John Wilks stated the following in his Letter to the Editor in the Nov 17, 2003, issue of The Australian ?In 1989, the Los Angeles Times reported that four of the nation?s most popular condom brands permitted the AIDS virus to escape in laboratory tests conducted for UCLA, ? Carey and associates (?Sexually Transmitted Diseases?, 1992) reported that HIV-sized particles leaked through 29 of 89 commercially purchased latex condoms in simulated intercourse? Voeller (?AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses?, 1994) reported that leakage of virus-sized particles occurred in different brands of condoms of different ages at a rate of 0.9 per cent to 22.8 per cent in the laboratory setting? Lytle and others (?Sexually Transmitted Diseases?, 1997) reported that under test conditions, 2.6 per cent of latex condoms allowed some virus penetration??. In still another test, only 30% of membrane samples from ?Trojan? brand condoms were found to be absolutely without defects.
On the other hand, a British newspaper reported that ?the organisation says ?consistent and correct? condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90%. There may be breakage or slippage of condoms??. The International Planned Parenthood Federation even gave a higher failure rate, stating that ?use of condoms reduces by approximately 70% the total risk between unprotected sex and complete sexual abstinence. This estimate is consistent with findings from most epidemiological studies?.
It should be stated that the remaining 10-30% from these figures, which represent the failure range, is relatively high when one deals with a potentially mortal disease such as AIDS, especially if there is an alternative that provides absolute protection against the sexual transmission of the same namely, abstinence before marriage, and fidelity to one?s spouse."
"Condom Failure and its Latex Material
The above considerations on studies pointing towards condom failure are not limited to theoretical arguments. That condoms may be defective is not mere theory, but a fact confirmed by real-life experiences in the real world. One may perhaps assume that in the condom?s ideal or perfect state, that is, with a surface with no defects whatsoever, the latex material theoretically might provide a high degree of protection against the passage of HIV-sized particles. However, when it comes to the actual or real state of latex materials, in distributed items such as condoms, the situation could be quite different.
For instance, some permeability and electric tests indicate that latex may allow passage of particles bigger than the HIV. Likewise, holes and weak spots in condoms may be detected by tests, as can be seen in a 1998 article on the US Food and Drug Administration website. ?Condom manufacturers in the United States electronically test all condoms for holes and weak spots. In addition, FDA requires manufacturers to use a water test to examine samples from each batch of condoms for leakage. If the test detects a defect rate of more than 4 per 1,000, the entire lot is discarded. The agency also encourages manufacturers to test samples of their products for breakage by using an air burst test in accordance with specifications of the International Standards Organization.? If four leaking condoms are allowed in every batch of 1,000, there could be hundreds of thousands or even millions of leaking condoms circulating all over the world, either sold or distributed for free, and most probably contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and STD?s. Does the public know this? Does the public know that the risks increase the more often and the more promiscuously one is exposed, considering the cumulative risk factor, as explained earlier?
Cardinal Eugenio De Araujo Sales, who was for many years Archbishop (and now Emeritus) of the immense Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, recently stated in a newspaper article that several lots of condoms (some from leading brands) were recalled from the market in Brazil in 1999, 2000 and 2003, due to failure in different tests and to the discovery of counterfeit products. According to Cardinal Sales, the 1999 recall, for example, involved 1,036,800 units of the condom Prudence, the third leading brand in Brazil, because it failed the test done by Inmetro, the government?s Ministry for Development, Industry and Exterior Commerce. Even prior to these comments made by the Cardinal, the consumer group Civitas International stated that, ?In 1991, IDEC published a study that reported that five out of the seven top condom brands in Brazil, including the nation?s number one brand, Jontex, manufactured by Johnson and Johnson, flunked international safety tests.?
Condoms, in addition to having possible manufacturing defects, could undergo deterioration during shipping, handling and storage, and even further degradation after purchase by the end user. To a greater or lesser degree, factors such as the following have been proposed as possibly contributing to the degradation of latex (and thus to condom failure) exposure to sunlight, heat (including body heat when placed in pockets or wallets), humidity, pressure, certain spermicides and even to atmospheric ozone. Besides, the condom may still suffer last-minute physical damage immediately prior to or during actual use, such as contact with pointed or sharp objects including fingernails."
