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The Truth Must Get to Teens About STDs By Shepherd Smith, 3/1/2004 Evaluating risk is often difficult, especially when there seems to be conflicting data. Ralph Nader convinced us that Pintos were unsafe; we’ve pretty much concluded that cigarettes are harmful, and as a country we’re beginning to rethink how often we should hang out at fast food restaurants. But what about condoms, something we thought were pretty good. UNAIDS is issuing a report on condoms just as our government did a few years ago. Two little words at the front of our government’s report are putting America’s teens at great risk. Fortunately, more and more data are debunking this government mistake. But getting the accurate information to young people is another matter. Researchers concluded condoms offered 85% protective value. Put another way, they have a failure rate of 15% over time. That’s roughly one out of six. The report that was issued was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) examination of the effectiveness of condoms at preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The words in question are “highly effective.” That’s what the NIH said about condoms when it comes to keeping people safe from HIV/AIDS. And it’s been used to support the traditional approach to teens and sex, which is promoting “safe sex” – or “safer sex” – by using condoms. Many trumpeted the NIH report as proof that “condoms are the best method for sexually-active people to prevent sexually-transmitted infections.” Trouble is, looking a bit deeper into the NIH report reveals that there’s nothing “highly effective” about condoms when it comes to protecting young people, especially teenagers, from STDs. Indeed, really reading the report and looking at all of the research conducted since reveals that condoms do not eliminate the risk for any STD and only reduce the risk for two (and that’s out of approximately twenty-five that plague young people today). It’s not even accurate to say, as many in the AIDS activist community have for years, that condoms will, at least, keep people safe from HIV/AIDS. Here’s what the Boston Globe recently reported: “ A draft report for the [United Nation’s] AIDS agency has found that even when people use condoms consistently, the failure rate for protection against HIV is an estimated 10%, making them a larger risk than portrayed by many advocacy groups.” Not to mention that sexually-active teenagers hardly ever use condoms 100% of the time – teens (and many adults) are notoriously bad condom users. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 65 million Americans live with an incurable STD and 15 million new infections occur every year. Two-thirds of these 15 million are between the ages of 15 and 24. The most common STD is Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which causes more than 90% of all cervical cancers. Yet, there is no evidence that condoms prevent or even reduce the spread of HPV. And condoms do not eliminate the risk for Chlamydia, another common STD that is directly linked to female infertility. Much was made in the media recently about a study concluding that distributing condoms in schools does not increase sexual activity among young people. But what’s being missed is that distributing those condoms isn’t keeping young people safe from diseases that can change their lives forever. This doesn’t mean condoms should play no role in the battle against HIV and STDs, they just shouldn’t play the central role – especially for kids. The only way to keep young people safe is to tell them the truth – about STDs and condoms. And tell them we know they are capable of, and we expect them to, avoid sexual activity. Most people don’t realize it, but today a majority of high school students do not have sex and the numbers are growing. We want young people to make fully-informed decisions based on the best information. Terms like “use protection” or “unprotected sex” inferring condom use is safe is both misleading and false. The biggest predictor of acquiring an STD is the number of lifetime partners, with or without condom usage. Fewer partners, less risk; one lifetime partner in a faithful relationship, virtually no risk. The government did a dangerous disservice to America’s teens when it incorrectly called condoms “highly effective.” Research shows that the only way young people can be safe from a STD epidemic is to wait. Fortunately, more and more teens are making just that choice. Shepherd Smith is president of the Institute for Youth Development, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes a consistent, comprehensive risk-avoidance message to youth for the leading harmful risk-behaviors: alcohol, drugs, sex, tobacco and violence. For more information, write to IYD at P.O. Box 16560, Washington, D.C., 20041 or visit www.youthdevelopment.org
03/04
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2004