Condom Testing Reveals The Best Brands

The nonprofit Consumers Union rated which condoms measure up best and how other birth control methods compare. One important result was that all models met international standards. The top brand also took the most punishment- the Durex Extra Sensitive Lubricated Latex condom. Other top-performers included the Durex Performax Lubricated, Lifestyles Classic Collection Ultra Sensitive Lubricated and TheyFit Lubricated.

The Consumers Union uses standardized tests to rate the products it examines, which for latex condoms involves filling them with air. There is no accepted method to test silicon or non-latex condoms. They can balloon 3 feet tall and a foot wide so where they stop is still not a standard at that level of stretch.

The New York-based organization, which publishes the Consumer Reports magazine, also tested 16 other contraceptive choices. "Condoms remain the only family planning and pregnancy prevention method that can help prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, which causes AIDS," the group, which has issued similar reports on condoms periodically since 1979, said in a statement.

"Condoms have improved since the mid-nineties because industry manufacturing standards have become more universally used and more effective," added Edward Kippel, who led the condom test project.

Intrauterine devices or IUDs have also become safer than in previous years, as have birth control pills, including so-called emergency contraception, the group said. While abstinence has a 0 percent failure rate, doing nothing to prevent pregnancy has an 85 percent failure rate, the group found. A U.S. government report published last month shows 98 percent of all US women who have had sex have used birth control which is not an indication of using it consistently when they should.

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