In addition to delivering a message that could lead young people to immoral behavior, this advertising campaign should also be faulted for violating the principle of truth in advertising. The information contained in the ads does not reveal the fact that there are scientific evidences that condoms do not always protect the women from pregnancy nor the partners from diseases like HIV/AIDS. In fact, these evidences should also be used by the opponents of the "Ordinance Establishing a Quezon City Population and Reproductive Health Management Policy" to stop the signing of the municipal law by Mayor Sonny Belmonte.

The January 26, 2008 issue of the British Medical Journal carried an article written by Stephen Genius who said that "Epidemiological research repeatedly shows that condom familiarity and risk awareness do not result in sustained safer sex choices in real life." He also added that "Condoms cannot be the definitive answer to sexually transmitted infection because they provide insufficient protection against transmission of many common diseases."

Whether they be profit-seeking drug companies or government officials trying to combat poverty through the use of artificial contraceptives, there must be transparency about the dangers of these devices, especially the most controversial condoms. As reported by the Zenit International News Agency last February 11, 2008, faced with hard evidence about the failure of condoms and sex education campaigns, the reaction is often to call for more of the same. A typical example was the recent news from Australia, where it was found that 60 percent of Australian women who have unplanned pregnancies were using contraceptive pills or condoms. It is also very notable that in a country like the United States, where pills and condoms are so freely available, there are more than a million abortions a year.

In his British Medical Journal article, Genius exposed the fallacy of fighting sexually transmitted diseases by aggressive sexual education programs. He said: "The relentless rise of sexually transmitted infection in the face of unprecedented education about and promotion of condoms is testament to the lack of success of this approach. In numerous large studies, concerted efforts to promote use of condoms has consistently failed to control rates of sexually transmitted infection – even in countries with advanced sex education programs such as Canada, Sweden and Switzerland."

In countries such as Thailand and Cambodia, where sexually transmitted infections have diminished recently, Genius pointed out that a careful scrutiny of the data reveals that the changes resulted not from condom use, but from changes in sexual behavior. In Africa, the importance of changing sexual behavior was also emphasized by Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS." In trying to find the causes of the high degree of infections in Africa, researchers found that a relatively high proportion of African men and women had simultaneous sexual relations with two or three partners. Compared to serial monogamy more common in Western countries the concurrent relationships greatly increase the risk of a rapid diffusion of sexual diseases.

Epstein was highly critical of the AIDS campaigns run by Western groups. Organizations such as Population Services International, Family Health International and Marie Stopes International were first active in population control efforts. In more recent years their activity in campaigns promoting condom use resulted in publicity that in effect promoted sexual activity. The message was that casual sex was nothing to worry about, so long as you used a condom. Apart from promoting promiscuous behavior that only fueled infections, such campaigns clashed with local sensibilities concerning decency and self-respect.

All these evidences from other countries should give more weight to those asking for banning the advertisements of condom and rejecting any law – whether at the national or local level – that promotes the distribution of artificial contraceptives. As regards the good intentions of the Quezon City councilors, there are hundreds of other ways of combating poverty that do not involve the danger of destroying the morals of the youth and unnecessarily exposing them to sexually transmitted diseases. For comments, my e-mail is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph.