Recently, the tests used in the 1980s to test lambskin condoms for their permeability to HIV have been called into question, however. In the wake of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, lambskin condom use plummeted, as the FDA did not endorse lambskin condoms for the ability to prevent transmission of HIV. Unfortunately, the Achilles’ heel of the lambskin condom is permeability. With all these positive qualities, one might wonder why use of lambskin condoms has declined over the years. Because they wet easily, they are very good at transferring heat, which is perhaps the most important quality in a condom that is competent at feeling something like unprotected sex. Like the sausage casings that were the lambskin condom’s forebears, lambskin condoms are thin, translucent, and stronger than they look. Indeed, a history of using animal intestines as condoms dates back thousands of years. Lambskin condoms, also known as natural membrane condoms, or skin condoms, are perhaps the oldest class of condoms on the market. Paradoxically, the FDA does not approve condoms for use during anal sex, and studies on condom durability are performed for vaginal sex only - despite the fact that condoms became high-profile in large part because of the HIV epidemic among men who had anal sex with other men. Although the FDA regulates condoms as medical devices and therefore dictates how they are manufactured, labeled, and marketed, relatively few studies have actually been done on the safety and efficacy of condom use, particularly for high-risk populations such as men who have sex with men. However, shockingly, in many cases the data aren’t really available to support the use of latex condoms either. In many cases, the data just aren’t available to suggest that competing technologies are as safe and effective as latex condoms. The FDA, Centers for Disease Control, and health departments across the country have promoted latex condoms as the gold standard of STI and pregnancy prevention for over 30 years. Aside from the market pressures keeping latex dominant, there is regulatory hostility towards competing technologies as well. The dominant condom technology currently on the market, developed in the 1920s, latex condoms and the synthetic-equivalent polyisoprene condoms are produced globally by a few large corporations that comprise an oligopoly in the sexual health market - Trojan, Durex, LifeStyles/Ansell, and Okamoto. Here’s a survey of the condoms available today, and the science that supports their use.
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