Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - September 11, 2007
Lou Chibbaro Jr.
Fenty was scheduled to hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Whitman-Walker Clinic's Max Robinson Center in Anacostia, Clinic spokesperson Chip Lewis said.
The mayor's deputy press secretary, Dena Iverson, said Tuesday afternoon that the mayor's office had "no information" to release about a condom- or AIDS-related announcement.
News of the expected donation from Trojan, which reportedly is aimed at helping the District curtail the transmission of HIV, comes less than a week after the Washington Post reported that local community health groups had returned tens of thousands of condoms distributed free by the city out of concern that their reported paper wrapping might fail to protect them from being damaged before use.
An official with the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration told AIDS advocacy groups in an e-mail last week that the condoms that were being returned to the city came from another company, the Boston-based Global Protection Corporation. The official, Leo Rennie, HAA's bureau chief for Prevention & Intervention Services, said in his e-mail that some of the Global Protection Corporation condoms the local groups were returning to the city were manufactured in China while others were produced in Malaysia.
Rennie said the Post article "indicates the packages are made of paper, when in fact they are foil packages, the same as used by the leading condom manufacturers"ö
Separate samples of the condoms in question that the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the local group Metro Teen AIDS provided the Blade on Tuesday were wrapped in foil.
Global Protection Corporation, founded in the 1980s, specializes in distributing condoms for HIV prevention and has worked with community groups to promote safer sex messages, according to information on the company's web site.
Rennie and Dr. Gregg Pane, director of the D.C. Department of Health, which oversees HAA, said the condoms the city provided to community groups for distribution are safe and meet the U.S. Food & Drug Administration standards for packaging and manufacturing of latex condoms.
"D.C. condoms meet the test to keep you safe," Pane said in a statement released last week.
The Post reported that Frank DeRose, executive director of the Condom Project, an educational group that promotes condom use for HIV prevention, said D.C.-area AIDS prevention groups had returned as many as 100,000 condoms to the city.
"People are saying, 'These packets aren't any good,'" the Post quoted DeRose as saying.
According to the Post, demand for free condoms at two distribution centers in Southeast D.C. organized by community groups dropped sharply after the city introduced its latest supply of condoms, which officials said had custom made wrappers with a message designed for the city's HIV prevention program.
The message states, "Coming together: Stop HIV in D.C. Ask your doctor. Ask your neighbor"ö
People who appeared to be spurning the condoms told members of the community groups "about packets ripping in purses or bursting open in pockets," the Post reported. In his statement last week, Pane said the DOH would speak with community groups and others who have been distributing the condoms for the city to determine whether improvements can be made. But Pane insisted the condoms were safe and met all federal government standards.
A separate company, Church & Dwight, Inc., of New Jersey, owns the Trojan brand condom. Church & Dwight is also known as the world's largest maker of sodium bicarbonate through its Arm & Hammer baking soda division and also makes laundry detergent, toothpaste and Brillo scouring pads, according to Hoover's business journal.
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