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Catholic World News News Feature

Condom warning labels considered by White House March 16, 2004

The White House is considering adding warning labels to condom packages, warning users that the device does not offer protection against all sexually transmitted diseases.

Condoms do not offer protection against Human Papilloma Virus, the virus associated with 4,000 cervical cancer deaths in America each year. "HPV infection can occur in both male and female genital areas that are covered or protected by a latex condom," a Center for Disease Control report released earlier this year warned. Former US President Bill Clinton passed a law in 2000 directing the CDC to provide a report on the best ways to combat HPV infection. The FDA was directed to ensure that condom labels are "medically accurate" regarding the lack of effectiveness in preventing HPV infection. Neither agency has complied with these legal mandates.

Dr. Daniel G. Schultz, director of the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Device Evaluation, said Thursday that the FDA "has developed a regulatory plan to provide condom users with a consistent labeling message and the protection they should expect from condom use." He also told members of a House Government Reform subcommittee that the FDA was "preparing new guidance on condom labeling to address these issues."

Although condoms also are not protective against Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the virus that causes AIDS, no mention is made of a plan to include warnings to this effect. Dr. Norman Hearst of the University of California-San Francisco revealed statistics on Kenya, Botswana, and other countries, which show an alarming pattern of increased condom sales correlating with rising HIV cases by year. According to Hearst, the effectiveness of condoms to prevent infection are 80 to 90 percent. "The most recent Met-analysis came up with 80 percent, but even if it is 90 percent, over time it's the question of when, not if," he told medical experts gathered for a conference regarding the HIV pandemic in Washington, DC, in January.

In his State of the Union address this year, President Bush announced a doubling of budget allocation-- from $135 million to $270 million-- on programs which encourage teens to abstain from sex.

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Virginia, in response to criticism from Democrat Henry Waxman, D-California, that condom warnings would discourage women from using them at all, said: "This is not about social ideology, or religious ideology. It's about informing women. ... And truly, the only way to be protected is abstinence. That's not ideology -- it's fact."