x-posted in my own journal

[righteousbean.livejournal.com]

Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids

Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
I found this in socialwork

socialwork


Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids

Steve Bradshaw
Thursday October 9, 2003
The Guardian

The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which the HIV virus can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.
The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to the HIV virus.

A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are untrue.

The church's claims are revealed in a BBC1 Panorama programme, Sex and the Holy City, to be broadcast on Sunday. The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the programme: "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom.

"These margins of uncertainty... should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."

The WHO has condemned the Vatican's views, saying: "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."

The organisation says "consistent and correct" condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90%. There may be breakage or slippage of condoms - but not, the WHO says, holes through which the virus can pass .

Scientific research by a group including the US National Institutes of Health and the WHO found "intact condoms... are essentially impermeable to particles the size of STD pathogens including the smallest sexually transmitted virus... condoms provide a highly effective barrier to transmission of particles of similar size to those of the smallest STD viruses".

The Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo said: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."

The church opposes any kind of contraception because it claims it breaks the link between sex and procreation - a position Pope John Paul II has fought to defend.

In Kenya - where an estimated 20% of people have the HIV virus - the church condemns condoms for promoting promiscuity and repeats the claim about permeability. The archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki, said: "Aids... has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms."

Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through".

In Lwak, near Lake Victoria, the director of an Aids testing centre says he cannot distribute condoms because of church opposition. Gordon Wambi told the programme: "Some priests have even been saying that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids."

Panorama found the claims about permeable condoms repeated by Catholics as far apart as Asia and Latin America.

· Steve Bradshaw is a correspondent with Panorama. Sex and the Holy City will be broadcast on BBC1 at 10.15pm on Sunday

Comments

[lesbianic.livejournal.com]

oh. my. god.

[strand3d.livejournal.com]

This is what really bothers me about the catholic religion, specifically the vatican. They're spreading blantant lies to millions of people. Whether or not people take them seriously is another thing, the fact of the matter is, it isn't OKAY to do that. Obviously i trust the WHO over the vatican anyday, facts are facts, but apparently they don't believe that. I can only hope people don't take their message seriously, and do some research of their own.

[ex-tinker-be53.livejournal.com]

Wow, that really pisses me off.

wow.

[sismith42.livejournal.com]

looks like Satan's invaded the vatican.

[mangofandango.livejournal.com]

I found this earlier, and I am still completely infuriated.

I think it's a complete joke that they insist that they believe in the sanctity of all life while thousands of people die because of this misinformation. And it's simply because they don't believe in contraception.

My mother wonders why I don't go to church since I moved out. If she would ever ask me, I would have a lot to tell her. I could never give money to these people, or in any way support an organization that does things like this. I am absolutely horrified.

[sadiedecayed.livejournal.com]

my family is catholic. they're a bit simpleminded like those spoken of in this entry.

and as for the condom bit. that'd explain why my mother popped out nine kids. i guess the idea that they wouldnt work scared her away from using them. haaa.

[infiniteblue25.livejournal.com]

I think this is akin to a war crime. Catholic missionaries go to third world countries who are soooo stricken with aides and tell them Oh don't bother to use condoms they don't work besides god wantes you to pop out a million babies in a row who die either right off from malnutrition or some other equally horrible death or slowly from hiv infection, so don't use birthcontrol either mmkay? The people in some countries are completely uneducated about the disease and contraception and missionaried may be the only link to medical care and food ect, This is so appaling. Even if the permeable condom business was partly true and they only worked 50% of the time.. wouldn't that be worth it? Blood on their hands , this rots.

[like-fire.livejournal.com]

that is most unfortunate but it's not even confined to the Catholic Church. Some of the more conservative Protestant sects tend to believe the same thing. a very devout Pentacoastal friend of mine teaches a program (developed by her church group) called Worth Waiting For in high schools. When i asked her what she told the kids she gave me the expected response of abstinence and all that stuff, but also how condoms are completely unreliable. that pretty much ended the conversation there because i don't talk about religion with my friends for just such a reason. it's really sad though.

[unreconcildmind.livejournal.com]

This has already been said in a roundabout way, but please remember that not *all* Catholics believe this stuff.

It isn't fair to generalize about this, just as it isn't okay with any other topic.

*steps off soapbox* :)

[silvertigress.livejournal.com]

OK people. This will sound like a blatant rant, but this has to be said.

The Vatican, the Pope, the Catholic Church under the Pope, are full of shit. They're spreading lies to people who can see for themselves with scientific research that what they say is bullshit. RUBBER IS NONPOROUS, THEREFORE IMPERMEABLE BY THE AIDS VIRUS, and that is scientific fact that we all know. If you wish to procreate, don't use condoms. If you wish to have sex for pleasure and not worry about the risk, then protect yourself. So far, no cure for AIDS exists, so the best way is to either use the rubber or abstain.

It just sickens me how something as positive as religion can become so fucked up over something that's common sense. The same religion that encourages the bets of morale also manages to brainwash the populace. Who cares if John Paul II doesn't like condoms? Do you want to have AIDS or not?!

[ginnyseta.livejournal.com]

I just want to state for the record that not all Catholics are like this.

I went to Catholic school for 14 years. We were taught proper condom use, how to put them on (in an all girl Catholic school!) and their effectivity. We were also given reasons why waiting for marriage for sex was a good choice, but it wasn't anything like "You will go to HEEEELLL!" In fact, many of their reasons are reasons I've seen expressed on Vagina Pagina and other woman communities. (No worries about risks of disease and pregnancy, no regrets about having done it with the wrong person, etc etc) And while I made a different choice in the matter, I still understand and respect their reasoning.

There are ignorant people in every religion, it's unfortunate that only the ignorant ones seem to get any press in Catholicism.

[ourika.livejournal.com]

I did some poking about after I read this article, and I don’t believe that this is the official Catholic church stance. If it is, I’d be very surprised.


They do list a disjointed quote from a Cardinal, but there’s nothing in his statement to say exactly what he’s referring to. They mention the Pope’s continual stance against birth control, and by doing so, they imply but do NOT state that the pope is behind the misinformation that is being distributed about AIDS and condom use.

So I did a google search and didn’t find any other evidence to back this one article up. I did find that some Africans do believe that condoms are laced with AIDS:

http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Fatigue/Archive/Infected/Q139006.html

And this is the only information to corroborate the first article listed in this email was this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3147672.stm

It has one sentence that says that the Nairobian archbishop blames condoms for the spread of AIDS.

None of this leads me to believe that it is a stance of the Catholic church. Instead, it sounds like the officials within some countries may hold this stance. I'm not sure what the Catholic's church stance is. I know that it believes that condoms and birth control are wrong, but I doubt that it's gone so far as to say condoms are laced with aids or are ineffective against AIDS.

Someone else already pointed out that the article doesn’t specify what kinds of condoms are considered unreliable. I do believe that certain people within the Catholic church may have this stance (lets face it certain people in all groups are stupid), and it sounds to me like the journalist decided to spin an article that is very anti-catholic since that’s a very trendy belief these days. If this were an official stance of the Catholic church, ALL the news sources would have picked it up, and there’d be reports from the church defending itself, etc

However, just because it’s not the official stance of the Catholic church doesn’t mean that there aren’t lower level officials spreading this blatant lie. Now here’s the thing – are they purposely spreading misinformation or are they spreading something that they’ve heard to be true and believe? If you heard that something could seriously harm someone, wouldn’t you tell them it was unsafe? Not everybody checks their facts (obviously, or I wouldn’t still get warnings about the unsafe spider that bites your ass and kills you when you sit on the public toilets in Burger King and Grand Central Station).

It’s very well possible that various priests or other church officials have heard that condoms are not safe and are telling it to their parishners, and that this misinformation has spread like wildfire through various communities and even countries.

[katarokkar.livejournal.com]

Assuming this is the British Guardian...that isn't the most reputable newspaper at the best of times.

[rock-wren.livejournal.com]

(bit off topic, but...)
It isn't just the catholic church and it isn't just condoms. I remeber that little book from my religious studies class that called condoms "russian roulette"..

Myths about AIDS are common in Africa, as they are in high transmission communities in North America. It is well placed fear that spawns them. In many developing countries people have little other access to information than what is handed to them. Unfortunately, without access to medical literature or the internet, people can't check other sources.

I live in one of the highest concentrations of HIV carriers in North America (lower East Vancouver). The transmission is mainly through drug use. Despite the many great social workers and Nurses around there are still dangerous untruths going around...