Men in China buy roughly three condoms a year, and the ones they purchase are highly likely to have defects.
The China Youth Daily cites data from the State Family Planning Commission that annual sales of condoms in China now stood at two billion a year.
With a male population of about 650 million, this means each Chinese man bought three condoms on average annually, and if he was lucky only one of them would have flaws.
The paper says between 30 and 44 percent of all condoms on sale in China failed to meet industry standards.
The alarming statistics come after a string of warnings from experts and officials that China stands on the brink of an AIDS epidemic.
The number of full-blown AIDS sufferers may double to 200 thousand in five years.
(People's Daily January 29, 2003)
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