NEW CONDOM IS FOR WOMEN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 18, 1992                   TAG: 9201180258
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA                                LENGTH: Short
NEW CONDOM IS FOR WOMEN
Women will soon be able to wear condoms, finally obtaining a new means to protect themselves from AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The new condom goes on sale in Switzerland early in February and in France and Britain later in the year. American health experts could recommend its approval at the end of the month.
"We are 100 percent in favor," said Karen Pataky of Planned Parenthood in Washington.
"Many heterosexual men don't like using condoms and the bottom line is that if they don't want to use one they won't use one," she said in a telephone interview. "Female condoms would give women another option."
The vaginal condom is a large, lubricated, polyurethane adaptation of the male version. It is about 7 inches long, has flexible rings at both ends and is inserted like a diaphragm. The inner ring fits behind the pubic bone and the outer ring remains outside the body.
Unlike the diaphragm, which only stops sperm from passing the cervix, the female condom also protects the entire vagina and labia from contact with the HIV virus.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB