Government Spent $224,863 On “Custom-Fit” Condoms

Money well-spent, we are sure some would suggest; but when the National Institute of Health spends $224,863 to test 95 “custom-fitted” condoms so every hard-working American man can choose the one that fits ‘just right’, we suggest the government is stretching the tax dollar a little too far. As NY Post reports, the study was prompted by concern that despite the wide-scale promotion of latex condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV, their use remains “disappointingly low,” because, the government says, one-third to one-half of men complain of poor-fitting prophylactics and are less likely to use them… apparently. Of course, we assume, when questioned, all said the condom was ‘too small’.

Via NY Post,

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The NIH blames US “regulatory guidelines” for American men having to choose from a “narrow range of condom sizes.”

The six-figure grant was awarded to TheyFit of Covington, Ga., which offers a wide variety of condoms that vary in length — from a bit more than 3 inches to nearly 9 ¹/? — and in width.

They’re available in European Union countries, but not in the United States, where they would have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“For most of their existence, condoms were custom fitted,” TheyFit explains on its Web site.

“For hundreds of years, until the early part of the 20th century, they were made of linen or animal gut fitted to over individual penis sizes.”

But the introduction of latex, mass production of condoms and other factors created what the firm calls “the ‘one size fits all’ condom.”

For the man who doesn’t know his own penis size, TheyFit offers a free downloadable “FitKit.”

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In 2009, the NIH financed a $423,500 study to find out why condom usage is so low in the United States.