FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. BOB MCDERMOTT – Pono Choices is a sexual education curriculum used in some Hawaii schools, and has been the subject of controversy. While parents await the findings of a working group assigned to review the propriety of Pono Choices, a not-so-unrelated news item has developed. Today, Hawaii State Representative Bob McDermott expressed disbelief and shock that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently edited its warning regarding condoms and anal sex on its website. The previous warning stated as recently as July, 22, 2010:
Are condoms strong enough for anal intercourse?
The Surgeon General (C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General 1982-1989) has said, “Condoms provide some protection, but anal intercourse is simply too dangerous to practice”
Condoms may be more likely to break during anal intercourse than during other types of sex because of the greater amount of friction and other stresses involved.
Even if the condom doesn’t break, anal intercourse is very risky because it can cause tissue in the rectum to tear and bleed. These tears allow disease germs to pass more easily from one partner to the other.
The FDA, however, apparently changed the above warning on April 15, 2014, to state only the following:
Are condoms strong enough for anal intercourse?
Condoms may be more likely to break during anal intercourse than during other types of sex because of the greater amount of friction and other stresses involved.
Rep. McDermott’s “McDermott Report”, released earlier this year, directly quoted the original website’s content. McDermott remarked that the FDA cited no medical or scientific basis for the change. “Why do I have the feeling that this self-censorship had something to do with the fact that my office has been trying to warn the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Pono Choices does not deserve federal funding, based in part on the previous information on the FDA’s website? Why do I think that this action is a response to the national media attention we have gained? We have contrasted the aggressive, medically inaccurate sex education agenda in Pono Choices with the facts.”
McDermott noted the fact that even a major condom manufacturer like Lifestyles admits on its website that “condoms are primarily intended for use in vaginal intercourse”. “If the FDA wanted to update its website, they should have pointed out that fact, and left the existing content alone. We are seeing the abandonment of science in favor of the sexualization of the innocent. The FDA has removed a factually-based but politically incorrect fact from its website. It has acted without explanation, without citing any medical or scientific basis for the change in its warning, and without any intervening facts to support its new position.”
References
Readers may compare the previous FDA content, courtesy of archive.org…
…against the new FDA content…
https://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/byaudience/forpatientadvocates/hivandaidsactivities/ucm126372.htm
Lifestyles admits primary purpose of condoms…
https://www.lifestyles.com/sexualhealth/Includes/pdf/lifestyles_public_sector_brochure_r12.pdf