Officials Target Spermicide in Condoms
Los
Angeles Times
Lisa Richardson
AUGUST 28, 2003
Behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade some of the largest condom manufacturers to stop using a spermicide that may increase the risk of HIV and urinary tract infection have failed, so several California legislators, AIDS activists and women's groups set out Wednesday to shame them into it.
At a news conference in Sacramento, Assembly member Paul Koretz (D- West Hollywood) and Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson expressed frustration after the presidents of three major condom producers recently refused to meet with them to discuss the spermicide nonoxynol-9.
"Since January, I've tried to negotiate quietly with representatives... to encourage them to phase out nonoxynol-9," said Koretz. Koretz, Wesson, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, Sonja Herbert of the National Women's Health Network and others signed an open letter to the Food and Drug Administration, retailers and condom and lubricant makers.
"Until recently, N-9 was believed to be an effective chemical barrier against HIV and a variety of other sexually transmitted infections," said the letter. "Recent studies published by [UNAIDS], the World Health Organization, [CDC] and numerous peer-reviewed medical journals have concluded the N-9 not only does not help prevent [STDs], in some circumstances it actually increases the risk of contracting HIV."
Wesson, who said he has lost three family members to AIDS, called on the companies to put ethics over profit. Assembly member Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View) stressed that the letter-signers did not object to the use of N-9 in over-the-counter vaginal spermicides specifically used for birth control. Among manufacturers cited at the conference were Church & Dwight, maker of Trojans, and Ansell Limited, an Australia-based company that makes Lifestyles condoms.
Other condom producers such as Johnson and Johnson and Mayer have stopped using N-9. In a statement, Church & Dwight said consumers could become confused by the calls for market removal, resulting in reduced condom use. Rather, condom makers "are already working with the FDA on revised labeling" for condoms with N-9 "to ensure they are used appropriately." Around 35 percent of condoms sold in the United States contain a spermicide, and N-9 is the only one used.