We may also want to consider latex condoms as a comparison too. While things can go wrong, these are more often from human error (i.e. condom breaking). When a person opens a package with a condom in it, they are expecting that it does not have any damage. This sort of thing comes under quality control, which would also apply to the new gel condom.

So basically, a defect in the design is something we expect to ideally discover before the condom is approved and available for use. But a defect in one or a small number might not be the design so much as a quality control issue where an isolated incident happened during manufacture and caused damage to some of the products.

I hope this all makes sense! :)

It’s funny I wrote about earlier attempts at creating chemical condoms back in the late 1990s for ChemWeb.com and others. One of the problems that will no doubt still persist is educating potential users, particularly, in the developing world, agencies and medics having spent a couple of decades trying to convince people that sex using a rubber is essential. If these virtual condoms become a reality, then reversing that educational impetus is going to come up against sturdy opposition I would imagine.

Dave Flanagan, Editor-in-Chief, Advanced Functional Materials