the 07/16/2008

Brazil to Install Condom Machines in Schools; Critics Abound

Pro-family advocates and critics around the world expressed strongopposition this week after news spread that the nation of Brazilwould begin a large scale effort to combat the spread of AIDS andSTDs through the installation of condom vending machines inhundreds of its schools.

According to Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao, AIDS is a majorproblem among Brazilian youth with an alarming 70,000 cases of AIDSreported among Brazilians under 24.

Eduardo Barbosa, head of the National Program for SexuallyTransmitted Diseases and AIDS, had explained the new development asone that would be crucial in combating AIDS and STDs.

"The expectation is that all of the public schools will have atleast one machine. At the end of the year, we will evaluate theusage and the appropriateness of the machines in the schoolenvironment, and how we give information and guidance regardingthem," Barbosa told the Jornal do Brasil.

Critics, however, have been skeptical about the notion of puttingcondoms in schools.

Cristovam Buarque, a former Minister of Education, has made hisopposition to the measure known since the debate over it firstbegan last year. Buarque has been among those who argue that onlythrough adequate sex education policies in schools 猬 not thecareless distribution of condoms 猬 can the incidences of AIDS andSTDs decrease.

猬SThe solution is not the mechanical ease of machines thatdistribute condoms,猬 he told Brazzil.com.

猬SToday, many children are enrolled in school but do not attend.They go merely for the snacks served. Now, they will go to receivecondoms,猬 he added.

Pro-family advocates, meanwhile, argue that abstinence andfaith-based programs are the only tried and true ways to stem thetide of AIDS.

Most notably, studies in the United States have consistentlyrevealed that abstinence-based education programs have beeneffective in schools.

In a review by The Heritage Foundation, 15 out of 21abstinence-education programs 猬Sshowed positive behavioral resultsin the students, including the delay or reduction of sexualactivity.猬

"The big problem with this government program for distributingcondom machines to the schools is that, rather than teachingfidelity and respect in relationships with others, it runs the riskof creating an incentive to engage in sexual intercourse, includingpremature sexual intercourse," explained Dom Dimas Lara Barbosa,the secretary-general of the National Conference of BrazilianBishops (CNBB), according to LifeSiteNews.com

"Our mission as Catholics must be to reaffirm the beauty of humansexuality, but above all, the respect that one should have in everyaction, including the conjugal act. Safe sex, only in marriage,blessed by God,猬 he concluded.

The new measure will begin taking effect in October.