CONDOMS - TRENDS IN SAFETY AND TESTING

摘要

Latex condoms have been in use for preventing unwanted pregnancies for a long time:When in the mid of the 80s,AIDS became a world-wide problem,and other sexually transmitted diseases also spread around more and more,the aspect of safety of condoms started to be an important topic in health policy.The international standard ISO 4074 describes several physical tests that should make sure that condoms are safe and also remain safe within a defined time period.The most important tests are the hole test and the burst test.Requirements were set up several times within the last few years,and this will continue in the future.These ongoing developments include new methods in hole detection and a better correlation between the test results and breakage rates.However,there are some more aspects that cannot be covered by performing the standard tests.Nitrosamines,which develop during the production of many rubber articles,and also proteins likely to cause allergies,are problems in the production of condoms.It is the goal of condom producers to reduce the quantity of these substances to a minimum.On the other hand,a reliable risk analysis must assess side effects that might reduce the physical safety properties.Other topics are bio burden,microbiological purity,virus penetration ratio,and clinical aspects.