From the Family Research Council...So much for truth in advertising!
A full-page ad in major newspapers today sponsored by the Trojan company is loaded with misinformation about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing disease. The page leads off with the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) latest report about the number of teens (one in four) who are infected with an STD. "America is not a sexually healthy nation," the text warns. "We should evolve the way we approach sexual health in our country." Not surprisingly, the company's solution to the problem is supplying more of their product, which the ad implies would help eliminate diseases such as the human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes, and trichomoniasis.
Trojan and their liberal sex education allies are out to persuade Americans that condoms make sex "safe." Not so, says the very government agency that Trojan quotes in its ad. On HPV, the CDC's official position on condom efficacy is entirely contrary to Trojan's. In its report to Congress, the agency plainly states, "The available scientific evidence is not sufficient to recommend condoms as a primary prevention strategy for the prevention of genital HPV prevention." While condoms may reduce the risk of chlamydia, herpes, and other diseases, it cannot eliminate the risk.
Teenagers may be half as likely to contract various STDs if they use condoms correctly, but the problem is that few of them do. It's an established medical fact that teenagers' correct and consistent condom usage is much lower than adults', and the effectiveness of the contraception decreases even more as a result. Beyond disease, condoms are not even a reliable method for reducing teen pregnancy. About one in every five teens using condoms becomes pregnant within one year, according to the National Survey of Family Growth. Condoms are incapable of providing the protection Trojan claims they do.
Once again, the industry is proving that it cares more about profit than prevention. It continues to astound me that our society is willing to tell kids to abstain from the dangers of drinking or smoking but not premarital sex. If America is truly committed to disease prevention, and the emotional well-being of our teens, then we must be committed to abstinence--the only method that works 100% of the time.
