'One size does not fit all'
2001-09-29 12:06
New Delhi - Health officials, confounded by India's explosive population growth, will launch a countrywide project to measure the different size of penises to design more effective condoms, Indian Express said on Friday.
It added a simple hypothesis lay behind the project: "More and
more condoms are getting torn, and the population is rising. The
long and short of it is that while all condoms are of the same
size, all penises are not."
NC Saxena, head of reproductive biology at the Indian Council
of Medical Research - the institution co-ordinating the project -
said once the "length and width of the male organ in different
parts of the country was known," it would provide a shot to family
planning.
"Once the variation in size is known, condoms can be tailored to the needs of different regions," he said.
The survey could help bring down the 15-20% failure rate
of condoms because of "breakage or spillage".
India's population demography is widely divergent, varying from shorter and darker people of southern areas, believed to be of Dravidian origin, to fair, tall and burly people in the north who apparently have Aryan blood.
"The collection of data (on the penises) will be a scientific
process in which the length and width would be recorded in a
digital camera at the time of full erection," Saxena said.
The work on the project began in early July with the procurement of a digital camera.
"We are now preparing a software that will translate pictures
automatically into measurements of width and length," Saxena added.
India's billion-plus population is fast closing the gap on
China's 1.3 billion. The task of controlling rampant population
growth is seen as a key element in solving the country's crushing
social problems. - AFP
- SAPA