Eugene weekly., February 13, 2014, Image 13

A Bad I
Wrap
UO SCIENTIST WANTS
TO CREATE THE
ULTIMATE CONDOM
BY AMY SCHNEIDER
t’s a common experience. You’re walking
down the street, pleasantly enjoying the
scenery, when you look down and almost
step on the horror of all horrors: a used
condom lying on the sidewalk.
We all know that condoms are readily available and
people use them all the time (even if we don’t want to
see the rubbery aftermath at our feet). The problem is
that they’re not using them enough or with any kind of
consistency.
“There are a number of reasons why people don’t use
them; for one thing, the sensitivity is not very good,”
says Richard Chartoff, a chemist at the University of
Oregon who received a $100,000 Grand Challenges
Explorations Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to come up with a more appealing male
condom, one that people will view as a positive addition
to sex, not an uncomfortable inconvenience.
This negative attitude toward condoms is a concern
for people of all ages, but it starts with teenagers:
According to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, one in four males and nearly four in
10 females did not use a condom over the course of
a month when having sex. Although condoms don’t
have a perfect track record of preventing pregnancy
when people aren’t using them perfectly (the CDC says
condoms are about 86 percent effective over the course
of a year with typical use), they’re more reliable than
the pull-out method (79.6 percent effective) and much
better at preventing STDs than other contraceptives like
the pill or IUDs. A New England Journal of Medicine
study found that, among heterosexual couples where
one partner was HIV-positive and the other was HIV-
negative, consistent condom use effectively protected
the HIV-negative partner from contracting the disease.
Condoms are great for preventing unwanted
pregnancies and blocking illnesses, but they do have
a reputation for decreasing the pleasurable sensations
that make sex so irresistible in the fi rst place. It’s
anecdotal that condoms actually reduce pleasure, since
having awesome sex is a diffi cult thing to measure
scientifi cally; some studies, however, indicate that a
perceived reduction in pleasure is enough to cause men
and women to avoid using condoms.
Cultural factors can also infl uence condom use — in
sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV is prevalent, assumed
monogamy within a marriage and the importance
placed on having children can be enough to dissuade
men from using condoms consistently.
That’s why Chartoff and his fellow researchers
are working on the next generation condom, inspired
by Bill and Melinda Gates and their effort to curb
the spread of disease in developing countries and
elsewhere. Part of this struggle is social — something
that will take more than materials science to fi x — but
Chartoff says the basic design of male condoms hasn’t
changed in at least 40 years, and that’s a good place to
start looking for new ideas.
“We’re trying to come up with a type of material that
has better sensitivity, is thinner and more form-fi tting
and eliminates the possibility of allergic reactions,”
Chartoff says. “It needs to be stronger so it won’t rip
or leak, and it also will provide active disease-fi ghting
capability.”
Chartoff is one of 11 researchers who received
Grand Challenges Exploration Grants to build a better
condom. Other strategies include synthesizing material
that mimics human mucosal tissue, creating a condom
applicator pack that quickly puts the condom in place
and using collagen from cow tendons to simulate a
more natural feel. Chartoff says he and his team have
18 months to develop a design, and he’s hopeful they
will achieve their goal in that time.
“We typically like to work on problems that are
complicated, challenging and also end up helping
people,” he says. “It’s a problem waiting to be solved.” ♥
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