Letter about the condom quality article that one person did not like
I have spent over 20 years talking to gay guys about their lives, their sex and HIV. Having shared the pain of HIV with hundreds of guys, I think I am extremely sensitive to the agony that HIV can cause. I will do what I can to help our community to grow strong and be healthy. Hence the motivation for my writing a health column in Xtra. I hope to never attack anyone in our community or any community organization in this effort, however I will criticize the government (and others) and their policies when they are harmful to our community.
I was surprised that there was controversy about my column on condoms. My intent was to question the quality of condoms the government is providing. I had expected that both BCCDC and maybe other organizations would come out with statements to the effect that they wanted the best possible condoms for our community and that they would research condom failure rates in an effort to help keep our community safe and healthy. I researched the facts before I wrote the column, and did more research after it was published. I stand by what I said in the column in Xtra. US FDA began to use the same international standards as Canada in 2009, their standards before 2009 were very similar to the international standards Canada uses. In both countries condoms are medical devices. I am hoping that the column on condoms will result in the best possible condoms for our community. It is too bad that we have not seen progress on this issue so far.
