According to Fox News, the new condom was created by researchers at the University of Washington and is made of electrospun fibers that are capable of delivering antiviral drugs when the fibers dissolve. It is hoped that the product will not only prevent unwanted pregnancy, but also help to combat the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
However, Dr. Manny Alvarez of Fox News says that the new condom raises more questions than it answers.
"First of all, prophylactic use of HIV medicines in this type of delivery system has not been studied," he said. "Just because this fiber material is capable of holding other types of medications, does not necessarily mean that the medications will have good absorption into the vascular system."
While delivering these drugs in such a fashion may be good for the prevention of some infections, because the material will be dissolved in the uterus, it could possibly create an inflammatory reaction which might interfere with fertility later on in life.
"Even though it is the dream of this creative team at UW to develop this new product, I still think that many significant prospective studies need to be done before these can be applied for everyday use."
Women can only hope that this latest contraceptive will receive the studies it should have before going to market. If not, it won't be the first time that women's bodies were subjected to poorly-tested drugs and devices aimed at stopping reproduction.
For instance, the FDA rushed the controversial abortion drug known as RU-486 to market in 2000, a drug which has caused the death of at least 15 women and caused injury to thousands more.
More recently, a new fourth-generation birth control pill marketed under the name of Yaz and Yasmine has been linked to nearly 100 deaths and thousands of serious injuries due to severe adverse side effects, a problem that was four years in the making before the FDA decided to put an additional warning on the label.
The latest IUD (intra-uterine device) on the market, known as Mirena, is already causing problems in women by dislodging from the cervix and traveling into other parts of the body.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Click here to read more about the vastly under-reported dangers of contraceptives.
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