Yeesh what an overwritten article. I plowed through it because this is relevant to my interests but man this could've been 3 paragraphs. I'll try and sum it up: -People don't use condoms mostly because they are uncomfortable -Current condoms are highly suboptimal for anal sex in particular -Materials other than latex are generally difficult to get to pass FDA tests, and it looks like there is some disagreeing science…
Or, to sum up even more succinctly: - Government regulations have stifled innovation, thereby making existing products less safe, less comfortable, and less used than they would be otherwise. In other words, nothing new.
We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
21–30 of 143 posts
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Couldn't Americans import a wider variety from less stuck-up countries?
Probably not. The FDA controls all drugs and medical devices sold in the US, not just manufactured here.
[0] http://www.theyfit.co.uk/pages/ordering-from-outside-of-euro...
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or, to sum up even more succinctly: - Government regulations have stifled innovation, thereby making existing products less safe, less comfortable, and less used than they would be otherwise. In other words, nothing new.
You aren't allowed to criticize government regulation on HN.
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#24tl;dr?
There's actually a lot of interesting facts about the origin/manufacturing of condoms and of the regulatory process/history. I submitted the article because I thought the lead anecdote of the man taking it upon himself to improve it was interesting and inspiring, as it's so often the case that we just tolerate everyday things that could be better...but condoms are an everyday thing tied so closely to love/intimacy as…
The work I recall from the '90's (I was a post-doc there, working in a different field) involved changes to both shape and design, with some kind of extra band around the base to prevent leakage and accidental slip-off.
As near as I can tell, none of this research has had any impact on condoms as they are manufactured and sold. The best you see is a non-latex condom being sold now and then, but they never seem to stay on the market very long (they are generally more expensive).
So the most pressing topic for research would seem to be going after the question, "We know all kinds of things about building a better condom, and have for decades, so why haven't the condoms we buy changed appreciably?"
Some of this will be due to the difficulties of getting things past the FDA, particularly for smaller operations as the article suggests, but since we do see non-latex condoms from major manufacturers (http://www.walgreens.com/q/non-latex-condoms) it is clearly not the case that the FDA makes stuff impossible. It may be there are economic issues at work as well, but I don't think the situation is so obvious that we can just apply $IDEOLOGY_OF_YOUR_CHOICE and say we're done. This is particularly true because condom availability isn't great outside the US, either (although what the US approves does have an influence on what gets sold elsewhere, I'm sure.)
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#25Yeesh what an overwritten article. I plowed through it because this is relevant to my interests but man this could've been 3 paragraphs. I'll try and sum it up: -People don't use condoms mostly because they are uncomfortable -Current condoms are highly suboptimal for anal sex in particular -Materials other than latex are generally difficult to get to pass FDA tests, and it looks like there is some disagreeing science…
So often, it seems that's what is meant by "long-form article."
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or, to sum up even more succinctly: - Government regulations have stifled innovation, thereby making existing products less safe, less comfortable, and less used than they would be otherwise. In other words, nothing new.
That doesn't explain why the innovation didn't happen in, say Somalia, where there are no government regulations to speak of.
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#27An article on ebola said that the condom provides 95% protection per use. i.e. a 5% chance of infection anyway each time they are used. That's basically worthless because after 13 uses there is a 50/50 chance of infecting someone. They are more effective with HIV only because HIV is not as infective, not because the condom is more effective. So the problem with the condom is not the design, but that they are not as e…
Well, there's 50/50 chance of not infecting anybody vs infecting at least one person from 13. That's a much better chance than say 50% chance of infecting at least 10 person from 13. When you are thinking about spreading a disease, this matters a lot. Sure, for couples, the chances of infection after N use is high, but that's not the only use case. (E.g. one night stands.)
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#28I'd probably worry less about this if PrEP were cheap enough to get without insurance (or wealth). The odds of finding a monogomous (or at least polyfidelitous) partner around here is slim, and I'm not too keen on taking my chances with Grindr. A better condom would alleviate a lot of worries.
Re: We Should Have a Better Condom by Now
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't explain why the innovation didn't happen in, say Somalia, where there are no government regulations to speak of.
The situation in Somalia can be readily explained by low incomes and decades of violence.