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The Democratic Alliance has called for a certain brand of condoms to be withdrawn from the market because of possible defects.
"It has emerged in Parliament's trade and industry portfolio committee that the National Consumer Commission (NCC) received complaints that a mainstream brand of condoms is defective," DA spokesman Wilmot James said.
The brand could not be named at this stage for legal reasons.
According to the NCC, the condoms were sent to the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) for testing earlier this week, where they passed quality control tests.
SABS tests invalid
However, Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala had indicated that she was not satisfied with these tests and that she would seek a second opinion from a private testing company.
James said it was believed that the tests conducted by the SABS were invalid for two reasons:
The SABS had tested too few condoms. Instead of using the normal test sample size of 800, the SABS only used a sample size of 160 test condoms; and – Some of the condoms used in the test were from a different batch. When the SABS requested that the remainder of the 800 condoms be provided, the producer provided condoms from another batch produced in Swaziland.
Given the danger that faulty condoms could present to the public, this product should be recalled without delay, he said.
Public need to be informed
The commissioner, therefore, needed to take several urgent steps. She needed to determine, with scientific precision, what the problem with these condoms was, if anything.
If there was cause for concern, the public needed to be informed with immediate effect and the product removed from all retail outlets.
The manufacturer would need to be fully investigated and held to account for producing a faulty product with life-threatening risks.
"The DA will be monitoring this case to make sure that nobody's life is put at risk as a result of faulty condoms," James said.
(Sapa, March 2012)
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