The SaferSex Illusion. (Book Review).

Dr. John B. Shea, The Safer Sex Illusion Toronto, Life Ethics Information Centre, 104 Bond St., Toronto, ON, M5B 1X9, Tel [phone]; 2001, 52 PP., $3.00 per copy, $1.50 per copy for 100

An introduction by Dr. Andre LaFrance states the problems which this pamphlet addresses:

"For human beings, freedom of choice is a given. This is not to say that all of our actions or bodily functions are under voluntary control, but that we have both the intelligence to discriminate between options and the capacity to select them. We do not always possess, however, the power to determine in advance what the outcome or consequences of our choices are going to be.

This sobering fact is relevant to one of the great challenges faced today by the medical profession; how to eradicate an epidemic of sexually transmitted disease which, in some countries, has reached the dimensions of a plague."

What plague? Immediately we say, "HIV and AIDS." But that is only part of the answer. Dr. LaFrance quotes World Health Organization statistics as saying "that in 1998, there were 62 million cases of gonorrhea, 89 million cases of chlamydial infection, and 170 million cases of trichomoniasis."

In other words, people who have accepted the propaganda line that safe sex means using condoms may be leaving themselves open to the transmission of virulent diseases whose names they can't even spell. Dr. Shea points Out in a factual way what these diseases are and what their consequences are. For example, it is estimated that one in a hundred females between 15 and 24 are infected with chlamydia, which can cause urethral infections in men and infections of the cervix in women, and may be undiagnosed in either sex.

Also, Dr. Shea points out that latex condoms contain pores, a fact highlighted by a major American study in 1992. Ironically, condom promotion could increase rather than decrease exposure to sexually transmitted diseases if it had the unintended effect of encouraging greater sexual activity.

Many of the facts are scary. For example, genital herpes, which is very common, may cause the death of an infected newborn baby, and a baby may become infected during the birth process. Human papilloma virus (HPV) may cause cancer of the cervix or other organs in women, and cancer of the penis in men.

Besides short descriptions of a number of these diseases, Dr. Shea includes longer discussions of the organs affected by the contraceptive pill, and of how the pill acts after conception: it may cause an unrecognized abortion.

Here are the facts; they need to be better known and put to better use. This pamphlet is a useful corrective to much of the "safe sex" propaganda which is so prevalent.