Condoms and AIDS
For years the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and a score of international groups have promoted the condom as the answer to stopping the AIDS epidemic. Now it would seem that the United Nations is realizing that condoms can’t stop AIDS. The U.N. AIDS agency (UNAIDS) recently reported that condoms have a failure rate of 10% in preventing HIV infection, even when used consistently. The failure rate for pregnancy prevention is about the same. Catherine A. Hankins, a scientific adviser to UNAIDS says the report, “makes a cogent argument that we should be talking about safer sex, not safe sex.” Edward C. Green, a scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, would agree. The condom’s effectiveness, “‘is not good enough for a fatal disease,’” he states. “‘The way condoms are marketed in Africa and other developing parts of the world is as if they were 100 percent safe.’” The new evidence flies in the face of claims made by groups like Population Action International, which contends that condoms, “‘have nearly 100 percent effectiveness when used correctly and consistently.’”
(John Donnelly, “UN report adds to a condom debate,” Boston Globe, 22 June 2003)
Male Sterilization
Men in two small towns in Colombia are being offered plots of land in exchange for undergoing a vasectomy. The program is funded by an unnamed 54-year-old movie producer who goes by the name of William Tell, because, “while the historic Tell fought against the tyranny of the occupying Austrians, …he does battle with the tyranny of fertility.” To date 40 men in El Tigre and Rio Cedro have taken advantage of the offer and have received either a plot of land or the equivalent in cash, and Tell hopes that all 250 fathers in this area will undergo the operation. The amount awarded for undergoing a vasectomy depends on the number of children a man already has. A father of two children who has the operation will receive the money to purchase 3.8 acres of land. The amount decreases for fathers of three or more children. Tell explains that the men are motivated by, “‘their trust in me and their need for land. That’s what got them into the operating room.”’
(Nelson Bocanegra. “Colombian men undergo vasectomies for land,” Reuters, 30 June 2003, quoted in SPUC News, 1 July 2003)
Poor Ted Turner
Good news for women and families everywhere! Population control fanatic Ted Turner is “down to his last billion.” The Turner Foundation has announced that it will not be awarding any new grants this year. Recipients of multiyear grants from previous years will still receive their funds. Devon Finley, program officer for the Turner Foundation said that they hope to resume making grants, but it will be “much smaller and by invitation only.” Ted Turner has contributed millions of dollars to radical environmentalist and population control groups over the years, including $5 million for population control in 2001 alone.
(Audrey Hudson, “Tough times shut down Turner philanthropy,” Washington Times, 18 June 2003)
