Condom Experts Told That Size Matters

As the world's top condom experts convene this week to update international standards, one American entrepreneur has a simple message: Size matters. It's shaking up an industry that has generally taken a one-size-fits-all approach. Frank Sadlo, founder of TheyFit, which makes what he claims are the world's first custom-fit condoms, is pushing for updated standards to allow greater variation in condom size.

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It's not just about well-endowed men in cramped prophylactic quarters, Sadlo told a meeting Thursday of delegates from 21 countries under the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization.

When given a choice, he said many men prefer condoms smaller than the standard minimum 6.3 inches long, with more than half ordering those less than 5.12 inches.

At the session in Seogwipo on South Korea's Jeju Island, more than 100 representatives - including leading manufacturers, government standards bodies and aid groups - pored over 42 pages of specifications and testing requirements for condoms.

Standards are especially crucial - failure could mean the spread of potentially deadly diseases or unwanted pregnancy.

"Our job is to do away with inferior condoms," said Eng Long Ong, meeting chairman and deputy head of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council, which estimates 13-14 billion condoms are made each year.

Getting quality condoms can be especially difficult in places like Africa, where they are a major part of AIDS prevention campaigns.

Ian Matondo, an adviser to the Malawi Health Ministry, said the issue of condoms breaking in Africa had nothing to do with the size of men's penises but was due to poor manufacturing.

The standard for testing condom strength is to fill it with air, a technique pioneered by the Swedes in the 1950s. Condoms of the standard length and width must hold at least 4.76 gallons of air - far more than they would ever be expected to contain under normal use.