I was a health educator--I need to post this

[mistergoat]

I'm reposting this from chilimuffin; I hadn't heard it before. But it's important info. If anyone knows anything related (either backing it up or contradicting it!), please comment

Comments

[plumtreeblossom]

I don't see a cited source here or on chilimuffin's post. Where is this information coming from?

[mistergoat]

Good question--you should ask her! She's a med student, so I assumed that this came from various medical geekery, but it's worth asking.

You wanna post a question on her page, or should I? :)

[plumtreeblossom]

Why don't you; I don't know her/him.

I asked because Jay and I use plastic wrap, and we're poly. We consider dams too small for effective coverage, and cut-open condoms *definitely* too small. I'd be curious to hear something difinitive about the plastic wrap issue, in case we need to seek out alternatives.

[mistergoat]

Will do! In the meantime, the link provided a few comments up by dancingwolfgrrl has some useful links.

I did ask chilimuffin about whether saran wrap was more effective than nothing, and she agreed that it was, but she pointed out that viruses are smaller than bacteria, so it might be less effective at blocking viral STDs. Some of which, of course, are the incurable ones, like HIV, HPV, and HSV...

[chilimuffin]

I thought this might come up. You're right - I didn't put citations on my post, and I should have. Apologies. There aren't a lot of them, really, but I'll do my best to lay out my thought process to you, and hopefully it'll make sense. If not, please let me know. For me, this is about patient care, so I want to make sure my medical practice is as accurate and helpful as possible.

When I first looked this up online, I used: this source as a launching point because it was cited and seemed well-researched.

I'll put the rest in a second comment (for size purposes)

or three comments, actually.

[chilimuffin]

Darn size limits

[chilimuffin]

So I've seemingly just disarmed my own argument, right? Well, maybe. Here's my main problem: manufacturing standards. Just as latex gloves aren't held to the same standards as condoms, plastic film wraps are held to even less of a standard. Moreover, they're thinner material than condoms (or gloves). There isn't any available information that I can find related to the specific quality measures of food wrap, but I very much doubt it's as regulated as something manufactured specifically for the prevention of fertilization/STI transmission. I can't imagine SC Johnson would tell me, if they even have data, on the number of microtears per square foot they find acceptable. I have no citations for that, nor do I think any are available. Until the study is done, I feel it is important for me to not lead my patients into a possibly false sense of security. If I had a lab, I'd do the study myself. Maybe someday