Ethiopia to discard 69 million condoms deemed defective

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Ethiopian health officials say they will discard 69 million defective condoms because they failed the elasticity test.

Ethiopia’s junior health minister, Kebede Worku, said Friday the condoms were rejected by the quality control department after they appeared to rupture easily.

The official didn’t say who supplied the condoms, which were bought with a $2 million donation from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He said the company wants the condoms tested again before it can replace them with a new batch.

Bikila Bayisa, deputy director of Ethiopia’s food and medicine control agency, said the condoms had holes “wide enough to pass liquids through, so we have rejected them.”