“Safe Sex” Is Not Proven – The Scientific Truth!

Our kids are being fed a cultural lie:

If you have sex outside of marriage, and you use a condom, you are safe and protected from pregnancy and from STDs.

Unfortunately, scientific evidence does not indicate you are safe or “protected” if you use a condom.  It only states that the risk of pregnancy and/or infection by an STD is REDUCED.  This is from the National Institutes of Health.

Having a false belief in the effectiveness of “protection” is dangerous.  And, as we all well know, young people will interpret anything and everything to their advantage, so they won’t hear the true story!

Condoms are advertised as an effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and the transmission of STDs.  This is also stated in public school health classes.  And, to be honest, they do have the ability to reduce the risk, sometimes.

In all studies and scientific declarations about the effectiveness of condoms that I have found a single caveat is always used:

…if consistently and correctly used…

Where teens (and pre-teens, too, unfortunately) are concerned we should have no illusions about “consistent and correctly use”, especially when youth judgment is scrambled by the heat of passion.

But, what if condoms are used “correctly and consistently”? Let’s look at the results of a 2001 National Institutes of Health review of STD studies that looked at condom effectiveness for 8 common STDs.  All of these results assume “correct and consistent use” and no failures of the condom, itself.

• HIV: 85% decrease in transmission of HIV/AIDS.  The data shows condom to be highly effective against HIV.
  ,
• Gonorrhea: For men the use of condoms does reduce the risk of gonorrhea transmission.  Unfortunately the available data does not allow an accurate assessment of the degree of protection against gonorrhea infection in women offered by correct and consistent condom use.  No quantitative number was given for the reduction in risk.
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• Chlamydia: The study of available data stated that the data does not allow an accurate assessment of the degree of potential protection against chlamydia offered by correct and consistent condom usage.  Again, no overall quantitative number was given.
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• Thrichomaniasis:  Only one study demonstrated a 30% protective effect for women, but that study was quite limited.  The scarity of data on condom effectiveness for trichomoniasis does not allow an accurate assessment of the reduction in risk of trichomoniasis offered by condom usage.”
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• Herpes Simplex 1 & 2:  Limitations of studies that have been performed prevented the panel from forming any conclusions about the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of correct and consistent condom usage in reducing the risk of genital herpes infection.
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• Chancroid: For this ulcerous STD the researchers stated there were some evidence of a protective effect but design of the studies prevented them from drawing conclusions as to the protective effects of condom use.
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• Syphilis:  Studies showed a protective effect, but it was highly variable, from a 29% reduction to 71% reduction, depending on the study and the conditions (100% use vs. typical use, etc.)
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• HPV: “There was no evidence that condom use reduced the risk for HPV infection, but study results did suggest that condom use might afford some reduction in risk of HPV-associated diseases, including genital warts in men and cervical neoplasia in women.”

The study can be found here. It should be noted that it is very technical.

This is not the only source to discuss this, either.  Look at this excerpt from the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control’s web site:

Let’s look at the words the CDC uses:

• HIGHLY EFFECTIVE – OK, I know what that means.
  ,
• REDUCES THE RISK – How much does it reduce the risk? 1%? 50%? 90%?  This doesn’t tell me how much “safer” I am!!!
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• MAY REDUCE THE RISK – I know what this means, too: They have no evidence that there is any benefit!

Again, this is for “consistent and correct use”, not “typical” use.  Studies show the “typical use” is riskier than “consistent and correct” use.

So, for years the use of condoms has been touted as “Safe Sex”.  As we can see from these reports by federal agencies, the available data does not give us all that much certainty in terms of how much the “correct and consistent use” of condoms reduces the risk of STDs.  This is largely due to the inadequacies of available data and, to be honest, does not say anything pro or con about the effectiveness of condoms.  The fact just is:

WE DO NOT KNOW!

But, if we do not have scientific assurance that supports the current emphasis on “safe sex,”  then why are we buying into a false sense of security?  Future studies may, or may not, reveal that condoms are effective in preventing STD infections.   Until we have hard data supporting “safer sex” why are we risking our children’s health and/or lives on claims founded inadequate data?

God knew what promiscuous behavior would result in, which is why He restricted sex to married couple.  It is safe!  Not SAFE-er.  SAFE! Monogamous sex does not result in infection when neither has an infection prior to the wedding.

That is the message that we need to be sending to our children.  They are smart.  Give them all of the information and they will see the risks as they are.

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