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Size doesn't matter, but thickness does >> Health Canada has deregulated the condom market. Is this good news for sensation-seekers, or a renewed health concern?
In a decision which many men will surely consider the best thing free trade ever did for Canada, the federal government has abolished its 22-year-old regulations on condom standards. As of July 1, Canada has adopted the standards for condom strength set by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The new standards will legalize the sale and use in Canada of Japanese-manufactured ultra-thin condoms. Philip Neufeld, chief of research and surveillance for medical devices at Health Canada, says the regulation was changed primarily to facilitate global free trade in prophylactics. "Our policy is to avoid writing unique-to-Canada standards for these kinds of manufactured products," Neufeld told the Mirror. With the change, Canada's condom standards are now in line with those currently in effect in the European Union, Japan and most other Asia-Pacific nations.
Industry players in ecstasy
"What matters most is heat transfer," explains Serge Jodoin, owner of the Condom du Fun boutique at Crescent and de Maisonneuve. "A thinner condom will create greater heat sensation." According to Jodoin, that's the reason many of his customers prefer the lambskin condom: "You can't beat a natural product in terms of a natural feel." Although pleased with the move to less-stringent standards, Jodoin says he's in no hurry to put just any new product on his shelves. "I have standards of my own," he says of his inventory. Condom packaging is not required to list such details as length, diameter and thickness; Jodoin, however, demands this information from suppliers and displays it on the racks for each product he sells. The thinnest condom he sells comes in at 0.045 millimetres. "Ten years ago I sold a condom with a thickness of 0.03, and it was a big seller. A year later, Health Canada pulled them off the shelves. "I'm looking forward to stocking those again." Homophobic condom research But the euphoria greeting the regulatory changes is mitigated by health concerns. Some AIDS-prevention organizations are concerned that thinner condoms may result in increased rates of condom failure, diminishing their effectiveness for disease prevention. "There's definitely a concern," says Patrick Pellerin of Omega Cohort, an AIDS research group. None of the organizations contacted by the Mirror was able to provide up-to-date statistics on condom failures or tears. But for homosexual men, the statistics wouldn't mean much anyway. "There's some latent homophobia in condom research," says Russell Armstrong, executive director of the Canadian AIDS Society. "In all of the studies we have seen, the failure rates are for condom use in vaginal intercourse." Armstrong does not believe the new regulations will pose a greater health risk than before. But he admits that the rigours of anal intercourse could result in greater failure rates, though no studies have ever focused on this question. Health Canada's Neufeld admits that condom tests don't take such issues into account: "The air-pressure tests only test the quality and strength of the latex film. They don't consider the real conditions in which condoms are used." Those who work in the industry are aware of the anal-sex issue. "I don't recommend my ultra-thins for anal intercourse," says distributor Michaels. "What this deregulation really means is increased consumer choice. People will have to be much more aware of the products they buy." Condom du Fun's Jodoin carries products specifically designed for anal intercourse, including the Rough Rider, which comes in at 0.11 millimetres thick. "For anal sex," Jodoin says, "that's your condom par excellence." Diminishing returns Even for vaginal intercourse, the question remains: does reducing a condom's thickness by an additional one-hundredth of a millimetre, from 0.04 to 0.03 millimetres, really have an impact? In a blind test, would any man truly feel the difference? Or is this the ultra-thin condom merely the ultimate in male obsessions--their preoccupation with their penises now combined with their love of technological innovation? The answer to these questions will have to wait. Before new ultra-thin condoms hit store shelves, says distributor Michaels, orders must be placed, papers must be filed with Health Canada and new packaging must be printed that conforms to Canada's Official Languages Act. "Even if I place the order right now, it will be three months before I receive the shipment."
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by PHILIP PREVILLE
Under the old standards, Health Canada required that condoms be able to hold 25 litres of air without bursting; as a result, Neufeld explains, average condom thickness ranged from 0.05 to 0.07 millimetres. The new ISO standards set the burst volume at approximately 15 litres of air, which means that average thickness will be reduced to between 0.02 and 0.05 millimetres.
The regulatory change has prophylactic-industry players in ecstasy. "It makes a huge difference," says Montreal condom importer Mark Michaels of Second Skin Rubber Products. "Once people use the ultra-thins, they don't want to use anything else." Michaels is the exclusive distributor for Japanese condom manufacturer Okomoto, which he says makes "the best ultra-thin product in the world."