Wall Street Journal - July 20, 2001
Laurie McGinley, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The National Institutes of Health report, to be released Friday, concludes that more research is needed to determine whether condom use is effective in reducing the spread of HPV, which can cause cervical cancer, and several other sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia, syphilis, chancroid, trichomoniasis and genital herpes.
On two other sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and gonorrhea, the study said the evidence was clear: Condom use reduces the risk of infection.
More than 65 million Americans are infected with a sexually transmitted disease, including almost one million people who have HIV, the report says. Most of the STDs aren't curable, and about 15 million new infections occur annually. The diseases pose a variety of health threats, including infertility.
Tom Coburn, a Muskogee, Okla., physician and former member of Congress, requested the study while he was still in the House. "Overall, the report shows what any one of us out here practicing medicine knows -- that condoms aren't worth a flip in preventing HPV" and some other STDs, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said, have oversold condoms -- and the "safe sex" message -- in discussing STD prevention.
But Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, denied that. She said the report indicated that condoms can offer protection in many cases and that people should continue to use them while more rigorous research is conducted.
The study grew out of a June 2000 workshop attended by four government agencies -- the NIH, CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Following the workshop, a panel of 28 experts put together the report.
Write to Laurie McGinley at laurie.mcginley@wsj.com1
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