SOUTH KOREA — At an internationally-attended conference held on the island of Jeju, more than 100 representatives from 21 countries, including leading manufacturers, government standards bodies, and aid groups pored over 42 pages of specifications and testing requirements for condoms. Their purpose for meeting was to discuss condom standards. Size was a major topic covered at the conference.Frank Sadlo, founder of TheyFit, which makes what he claims are the world’s first custom-fit condoms, is pushing for updated, new standards to allow greater variation in condom size. Sadlo’s company offers consumers a “fit kit,” a sheet of paper printed from a computer for sizing — and advising the user to watch out for paper cuts. The chart only runs from long to longer.
The product was offered from 2003-2006 in the United States before he withdrew it to upgrade from 55 to 95 sizes. Changing international standard would make it easier to widely offer the product internationally.
Any changes to the standards are a major undertaking — substandard condoms could result in spikes in unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections.
“Our job is to do away with inferior condoms,” said Eng Long Ong, meeting chairman. Ong is also deputy head of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council, which estimates that between 13 and 14 billion condoms are made each year.
The standard for testing condom strength is to fill it with air. Condoms of the current standard length and width must hold at least 4.76 gallons of air — much more than they would ever be expected to contain under normal use. Changing the standard sizing would require altering the testing requirements, but a more comfy, individually-sized condom would be worth it, according to Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University.
“It is time for those who establish condom manufacturing standards to consider whether an expanded range of condom sizes is necessary,” Reece said in an interview.
