Condoms have an 85% (annual) success rate in protecting against pregnancy. That's 15% a failure rate. But remember, a women can get pregnant only about six days per month. HIV can infect a person 31 days per month.

Latex rubber, from which latex gloves and condoms are made, has tiny, naturally occurring voids or capillaries measuring on the order of one micron in diameter. Pores or holes five microns in diameter have been detected in cross sections of latex gloves. ( A micron is one thousandth of a millimeter.) Latex condoms will generally block the human sperm, which is much larger than the HIV virus. (A human sperm is about 60 microns long and three to five microns in diameter at the head. But the HIV virus is only 0.1 micron in diameter. A five- micron hole is 50 times larger than the HIV virus. A one-micron hole is 10 times larger. The virus can easily fit through. It's kind of like running a football play with no defense on the field to stop you or shooting a soccer ball into an open goal. The hole is huge!

In other words, many of the tiny pores in the latex condom are large enough to pass the HIV virus (that causes AIDS) in its fluid medium.

One study focused on married couples in which one partner was HIV positive. When couples used condoms for protection, after one and one-half years, 17% of the healthy partners had become infected. That' s about one in six, the same odds as Russian roulette.

One U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study tested condoms in the laboratory for leakage of HIV-sized particles. Almost 33% leaked. One in three.

One analysis of 11 studies on condom effectiveness found that condoms had a 31% estimated failure rate in protecting against HIV transmission. In other words, as the report stated, "These results indicate that exposed condom users will be about a third as likely to become infected as exposed individuals practicing "unprotected" sex.... The public at large may not understand the difference between "condoms may reduce risk of" and "condoms will prevent" HIV transmission. It is a disservice to encourage the belief that condoms will prevent sexual transmission of HIV.
Condoms will not eliminate risk of sexual transmission and, in fact, may only lower risk somewhat."
Burlington County, New Jersey, banned condom distribution at its own county AIDS counseling center. Officials feared the legal liabilities if people contracted AIDS or died after using the condoms the county distributed. They were afraid the county would be held legally responsible for the deaths.


Latex condoms are sensitive to heat, cold, light, and pressure. The FDA recommends they be stored in "a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight, perhaps in a drawer or closet." Yet they are often shipped in metal truck trailers without climate control. In winter the trailers are like freezers. In summer they're like ovens. Some have reached 185�F (85�C) inside.
Are you thinking of entrusting you life to this little piece of rubber?

What baffles me is how come they can't come up with some effective means of birth control that men can use to keep from getting a woman pregnant when they don't want to without the use of condoms.

Not that I am against condoms but it doesn't take a genius to believe that they are not effective birth control or HIV/Aids preventative. Condoms are not easy or convient to use.

Haveing a better solution for that problem seems a better use of the money. I am sure there are people who will try to say that is the purpose of this study but I don't buy it.