Things it’s OK to buy cheap when the economy sux:
- Toilet paper
- Vodka
- Pants
Things you should not scrimp on ever:
- Condoms
Today’s Gaurdian has an article that warns against buying cheaper, potentially lower-quality products to cushion the blow of recession. The article focuses on the British Standards Institute (BSI), a quality control agency similar to what the Yanks call Consumer Reports, which awards a special Kitemark symbol to products it deems to be particularly safe or high quality.
But I liked the article because it had lots of fun facts about condom quality testing.
Testing condoms is a time-consuming and repetitive business.
Unlike condom use, which, depending on the user, is just as repetitive but less time consuming. ZING!
In what is known as the pinhole test, condoms are attached to a machine with 14 funnels and filled with 300ml of water. Once detached from its funnel, each condom is rolled across a large piece of blotting paper to see whether any liquid has seeped out.
To verify the worthiness of a batch of 150,000 condoms, 315 are put through their paces. If three leak, the batch is scrapped.
It’s like they say, three bad condoms spoil the whole bunch. And could turn you into this:
And now I bid you adieu and bon weekend with one final tidbit of knowledge:
Latex condoms can expand to hold at least 18 litres (five gallons) [of air].
Daaaaaaang.
Safety first, kids! Don’t buy generic condoms.
