Posted on 10/14/2003 7:33:33 PM PDT by narses
The Catholic Church has been accused of warning people in African, Asian and other countries with high rates of HIV infection that condoms do not protect against the transmission of the virus, the claims come just a day after a report revealed that a young person is now infected with HIV every 14 seconds.
According to BBC report, "cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns in four continents of the church have been quoted as saying HIV can pass through tiny holes in condoms but latest warnings were made in a Panorama programme called 'Sex and the Holy City' by one of the Vatican's most senior cardinals Alfonso Lopez Trujillo who allegedly suggests that the AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon and could pass through net formed by the condom.
Trujillo, President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, called on governments to urge people not to use condoms.
His words "These margins of uncertainty, should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do, with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."
In swift reaction to this claim, the World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned the comments and warned the Vatican to desist from putting lives at risk with such utterances.
A spokeswoman to WHO was quoted as saying that" Statements like this are quite dangerous"We are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million. "There is so much evidence to show that condoms don't let sexually transmitted infections like HIV through. "Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong."
Also reacting, Catherine Hankins, Chief Scientific Advisor to UNAIDS,, argued that the statements by Catholic Church are totally incorrect saying that Latex condoms are impermeable. She added that latex condoms are not only good but can perfectly prevent HIV transmission from one person to another during sex.
According to her, " "It is very unfortunate to have this type of misinformation being broadcast, "It is a concern. From a technical point of view, the statements are totally incorrect. "Latex condoms are impermeable. They do prevent HIV transmission."
Meanwhile, several anti - AIDS campaigns have also condemned the call by the Vatican arguing that condoms are straightforward and effective way of preventing HIV transmission and to suggest otherwise is dangerous.
However, the claim by the Catholic Church is already having effect on the condom distribution activities of some anti HIV/AIDS programmes.
Efforts to get a reaction from Catholic Secretariat in Lagos were unsuccessful as at press time.
Do you also believe that more spending improves public "education"? Or in the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny or in Margaret Sanger?
As to your second last sentence, be sure to tell that to God when the time comes.
One reason condoms fail in preventing the transfer of AIDS is that latex condoms have tiny intrinsic holes called "voids." Sperm is larger than the holes, but the AIDS virus is 50 times smaller than these tiny holes which makes it easy for the virus to pass through [Source: Dr. C. M. Roland, editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology]. To give you an idea of how easy it would be for the virus to pass through these holes, just imagine a ping pong ball going through a basketball hoop.
Thanks for the info.
HIV/AIDS: Condoms are riskyThursday, 15 February 2001
Statement by ACDP [African Christian Democratic Party] MP Cheryllyn Dudley
The African Christian Democratic Party objects to the massive promotion of condoms during 'Condom Week' this week. People often fall pregnant when they are using condoms. No means of contraception is 100% safe. Condoms fail in their primary purpose of preventing pregnancy, and frighteningly, they are much less successful in preventing AIDS. The HIV virus is 450 times smaller than spermatozoa. Statistics reveal almost 15 failures per 100 sexual acts "protected" by condoms.
Given these dangers and the very real risks of infection, condom promoters are not allowed to call condom use 'safe' sex. They may only call it 'safer' sex. The truth is that if people really want to prevent AIDS, they must change their sexual behaviour. Sexual promiscuity is the principal cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Condoms promote a false sense of security. Young people, particularly, get the idea that it is fine to do whatever you want, as long as you use a condom. The large posters of condoms plastered all over our county has and will do nothing to stem the horrific spread of AIDS.
The African Christian Democratic Party therefore proposes that this week be called Abstinence and Faithfulness week. As regards the sexual behaviour people choose, no one is fully protected from a horrible slow death from AIDS unless they are faithful in marriage and abstinent before. And no amount of handing out of condoms to teenagers and false promises about condoms is going to change that.
Unlike our government, Uganda has promoted abstinence and faithfulness as their primary weapons against AIDS. As a result, the spread of HIV in Uganda dropped from 45% to 35% in the men examined at the clinics for sexually transmitted diseases in Kampala, and from 21% to 5% in the pregnant women examined in Jinja between 1990 and 1996. 56% of boys from 15 to 19 years-old said in 1995 that they had had no sexual relations, as compared with 31% in 1989, and 46% of girls said the same thing in 1995, as compared with 26% in 1989 and they are marrying at an older age.
The important factor was the decrease in sexual relations outside marriage, and not increased condom usage.
This isn't a fantasy world either. In the real world, condoms are readily available yet AIDs, even where condom use is supported heavily, is skyrocketing. That's the real world. In the real world, not having sex is the best way to stop the spread of AIDS. In the real world, the excuse of "they're just going to have sex anyway" does NOT fly.
Tell me, do you plan on putting your 12 year old daughter on the pill? How about your 12 boy? Are you going to arm him with condoms?
Talk about twisted...
BTW, the "morally twisted" person you referenced holds the mainline belief of the majority of Catholics. Keep insulting us...it's helpful.
This is what everyone overlooks. No one uses a condom just once. Anyone who makes a condom part of his regular sex life is going to be using it scores of times, hundreds of times. A failure rate of 10% or even 1% may be acceptable when the undesired consequence is conception: human nature being what it is, most mothers tend to love their children no matter how inconvenient their arrival - and for the cold-hearted, stupid, or easily frightened, abortion is increasingly promoted as a way out. But when the down side is acquiring a lethal, wasting disease, the same odds become a lot less attractive. What's essential to remember is that the odds of failure increase over multiple uses. The same strategy that's 99% "safe" for a single occasion becomes only 90.4% reliable over 10 consecutive uses. For a carefree young man that's a month, or a week for a prostitute. Over 100 consecutive uses, "safety" drops to only 36.6%. (Remember, the condom only has to fail once for the users to become exposed.) And over 500 uses, the user has only a 0.7% expectation of being protected. And remember - these odds assume unrealistically ideal conditions. Studies indicate that most everyday users of condoms experience failure rates substantially higher than 1%.
What's clear is that over a period of just a few years, or even months, the condom strategy virtually guarantees the transmission of AIDS.
The twofold conclusion is obvious: first, far from attempting to impose a speculative theology, the Church's condemnation of condoms is a practical, hard-headed bid to save lives in the "real" world. Second, the Church's argument -- that only abstinence or marital continence can account for a drop in AIDS infection -- is spot on.
Waaah. You get whatcha give, kiddo.
Snidely
If they actually did that, they'd be even bigger fools and idiots than they already are.
Did your mommy get scared by a Catholic priest when carrying you?
Don't you know...? I was hatched, like all those who favor condom use. We aren't human, after all. At least, it's easy to portray us that way, so I may as well embrace it.
Snidely
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