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TIME: Almanac 1993
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TIME Almanac 1993.iso
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022789
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02278900.010
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1992-09-23
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BUSINESS, Page 56Business NotesPROPHYLACTICSA Burst of Controversy
Condoms may have proliferated lately, but not all of them
are created equal. So says the March issue of Consumer Reports.
Investigators checked 40 brands and 16,000 individual condoms
for leakage and strength. When the prophylactics were filled
with ten ounces of water, the test used by the U.S. Government,
all brands managed to pass. But researchers got different
results when they filled condoms with several quarts of air,
the standard required by such countries as Denmark and Canada.
Two types of condoms, LifeStyles Extra Strength with Nonoxynol-9
(a spermicide) and LifeStyles Nuda Plus, flunked the test 10%
of the time. Consumer Reports labeled many of the samples
"grossly defective." A spokesman for their manufacturer, Ansell
Inc. of Dothan, Ala., declared, "Consumer Reports does not
understand condoms." As for the Nonoxynol-9 product, the company
said that the magazine's testers were using condoms that Ansell
had voluntarily recalled because of defects.