February 13, 2004, Los Angeles, CA – On the eve of National Condom Week, February 14 – 21, 2004, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) urged legislators at all levels of government to oppose ongoing efforts to discredit condom use.

In recent months, social conservatives have downplayed condom effectiveness while advocating for increases in government funding for "abstinence-only-until-marriage" programs. These programs assert that abstinence is the only guaranteed protection against STD’s, including HIV. By law, these programs cannot endorse condoms or provide instruction regarding their use, nor can they provide HIV/AIDS education tailored to the needs of sexually active individuals.

Conclusions from a report published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the Prevention of Genital Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Infection have helped fuel the controversy. The report indicates that condoms were not effective in stopping the spread of HPV, which causes genital warts.

“Discouraging condom use does nothing to reduce the prevalence of HPV,” said Craig Thompson, APLA’s Executive Director. “What it will do is increase public misunderstanding regarding condoms, which then puts people at risk for life-threatening STDs such as HIV. For sexually active individuals, condoms are the only practical and effective means of protection against STDs. Let us be very clear: when used correctly and consistently, condoms work.”

Available evidence suggests that the effectiveness of condoms in preventing HPV is unknown. However, condom use has been linked to lower rates of HPV-associated diseases, including cervical cancer. A 2001 study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) strongly links condom use to significant reductions of other venereal diseases, including HIV.

AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest AIDS service organizations, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV or AIDS in Los Angeles County each year. Services include prevention education, food banks and nutrition education, professional dental care, housing assistance, transportation, mental health counseling, case management and home health care. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level. For more information, please visit www.apla.org.

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