Vatican is telling people not to use condoms
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Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
Steve Bradshaw
Thursday October 9, 2003
The Guardian
The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.
The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV.
A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are untrue.
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The church's claims are revealed in a BBC1 Panorama programme, Sex and the Holy City, to be broadcast on Sunday. The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the programme: "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom.
"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."
The WHO has condemned the Vatican's views, saying: "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."
The organisation says "consistent and correct" condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90%. There may be breakage or slippage of condoms - but not, the WHO says, holes through which the virus can pass .
Scientific research by a group including the US National Institutes of Health and the WHO found "intact condoms... are essentially impermeable to particles the size of STD pathogens including the smallest sexually transmitted virus... condoms provide a highly effective barrier to transmission of particles of similar size to those of the smallest STD viruses".
The Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo said: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."
The church opposes any kind of contraception because it claims it breaks the link between sex and procreation - a position Pope John Paul II has fought to defend.
In Kenya - where an estimated 20% of people have HIV - the church condemns condoms for promoting promiscuity and repeats the claim about permeability. The archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki, said: "Aids... has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms."
Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through".
In Lwak, near Lake Victoria, the director of an Aids testing centre says he cannot distribute condoms because of church opposition. Gordon Wambi told the programme: "Some priests have even been saying that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids."
Panorama found the claims about permeable condoms repeated by Catholics as far apart as Asia and Latin America.
· Steve Bradshaw is a correspondent with Panorama. Sex and the Holy City will be broadcast on BBC1 at 10.15pm on Sunday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1059068,00.html -
What is your view on this?
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I think this is ridiculous.
The condoms are innocent until proven guilty.
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the church always tells halftruth like this, especially the cathoic church. religion is evil.
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They are betting on when the whole world gets infected a cure will appearOriginally posted by kaister:What is your view on this?
STDs are very dangerous...just look at their pictures
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Well, no form of protection is completely foolproof. WHO itself added the disclaimer that they work 90% of the time - meaning that they may fail 10% of the time even if you conduct the proper procedures.
That said, any level of protection is better than no protection at all. The best forms of protection are still education and abstinence, but contraception still has a part to play in the fight against HIV. -
Yes, I do agree with you, the failure rate of using a condom is about 10%-15% against HIV transmission. my concern is the overhype on the use of condom in the prevention of HIV transmission, trying to project an image that using condom is 100% safe, hence giving out a false sense of security.Originally posted by fudgester:Well, no form of protection is completely foolproof. WHO itself added the disclaimer that they work 90% of the time - meaning that they may fail 10% of the time even if you conduct the proper procedures.
That said, any level of protection is better than no protection at all. The best forms of protection are still education and abstinence, but contraception still has a part to play in the fight against HIV.
anyway, there are also other ways that HIV can be transmitted
01 From an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth and sometimes b reastfeeding.
02 Contact with infected blood, e.g. using instruments contaminated with someone else's blood
03 Blood transfusion (tainted blood) -
the best way is do not have sex, if u're hiv infected.
condoms should not be abused in such manner. -
if infected still do it, then its like committing murder liao.Originally posted by Ito_^:the best way is do not have sex, if u're hiv infected.
condoms should not be abused in such manner. -
Condomns are now used not for birth control, but for allowing ppl to remain promiscuous without having fear for HIV or Aids.
In this case, Vatican is right.
You fear HIV, don't do it! -
hmm, actually i have attended a few open dialogues on this. Tere are cultural aspects to consider. Currently, Africa is adopting the ABC strategy: Abstinence, Be faithful and correct condom usage. While abstinence it's good, not many adher to this policy and i think its myopic to think they would. What i am really concern is the oppressed females and the kids infected with HIV. they are the victims. Esp. in countries like Africa where there Males hold the dominant power. Under situation like this, i do question whether condoms should be permitted, though i understand the implications of such a move. Yet, this is a conundrum that i think we should seriously give more thought to
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oh yah, just to add, i think in africa the prominent transmission modes are mother to child and through sexua transmission
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I can thoroughly understand why Vatican wants to stop people from using contraceptives on a religious point of view.
However, blind faith is like committing genocide on a mass scale, especially in this case. Granted there is a certain percentage chance of failure to protect against AIDS, but condoms are still very, very effective against STDs.
Their reasoning is wrong, just so wrong... Shouldn't they just promote abstinence instead of discouraging people to use contraceptives? -
Sigh.
What can we do; but to roll our eyes at such blatant ignorance.
It is impossible to make people abstain. -
Yup. Deny as much as we want but we're only animals in clothing - sex is part of most people's life.Originally posted by missqi:Sigh.
What can we do; but to roll our eyes at such blatant ignorance.
It is impossible to make people abstain. -
can leh...i m going that wayOriginally posted by missqi:Sigh.
What can we do; but to roll our eyes at such blatant ignorance.
It is impossible to make people abstain.
until marriage anyway after dat no need to abstain anymore -
The vatican is dumb.
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Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through"
Can you believe this?
My my.
The blatant disregard of concern for the wife.
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Originally posted by missqi:Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through"
Can you believe this?
My my.
The blatant disregard of concern for the wife. 
It's murder. -
In God's name.Originally posted by kaister: It's murder.
Hmmmm. -
Is it a sin to indirectly cause others' death through one's actions?
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If the husband was truly concerned for his wife, he would abstain from sexual relations.Originally posted by missqi:Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through"
Can you believe this?
My my.
The blatant disregard of concern for the wife. -
Yes he would. But shouldn't the nun advise him to abstain from sex rather than to not use condoms??Originally posted by SingaporeMacross:If the husband was truly concerned for his wife, he would abstain from sexual relations. -
If a HIV-infected person has sexual intercourse with a non-infected person, isn't it assault with a deadly weapon?Originally posted by kaister:Is it a sin to indirectly cause others' death through one's actions? -
can HIV b cure wif their holy water?