An alert on this type of product appeals to consumers. Around thirty non-compliant condom references, sold online and in pharmacies, are likely to lead to unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections, authorities warned on Friday August 21. According to the DGCCRF, in charge of combating fraud, around 1,000 boxes were sold, or more than 40,000 defective condoms, listed on the "consumer recall" site.
Most of these brands are marketed by Asian sellers. The alert also concerns two references of condoms having obtained CE marking (European conformity), and yet non-compliant due to a "risk of bursting" for one and "the presence of perforations" for the other. Some “260,000 units” were the subject of “recalls launched at the end of May and the beginning of August”.
Having just reached the age of majority, Paul and Sacha claim not to know the brands concerned, such as Friday Bae, Okamoto or Sagami. “We don’t know where it comes from, actually,” say the young men, who are not inspired by these condoms sold on large marketplaces like Amazon. “We think we're buying from a legitimate merchant with certification, but in reality we don't necessarily know what we're consuming,” they continue. “I would go directly to a pharmacy.”
Elisa will also go to the pharmacy because she also prefers not to take any risks with condoms. “Even in supermarkets, I am often a little reluctant. For me, health is extremely important, especially linked to sexuality,” she explains. “So, I will definitely go to a pharmacy and certainly not on the internet.”
And yet, some of these products have been sold on store and pharmacy shelves in recent months, according to authorities. For Bilal, it is theoretically a guarantee of quality: "I would not have checked the standards, etc. I would have seen it in the store, I would have said to myself 'it's good'." Except that certain products, particularly those sold online, did not meet standards and were not “CE” marked. Louis, a 39-year-old young father, underlines the importance of this standard: "Indeed, there are things that I tell myself that I will still check. If it comes from Amazon, from a site that I know, but if I do not know the seller particularly, I will at least look. Indeed, it is one of the minimum criteria when I do not know the brand and I do not trust it at the start."
In a pharmacy located not far away, Théodore Henric, assistant pharmacist, learned of the fraud repression alert, "it's sure shocking." For this professional, it is necessary to be extra vigilant, even with the CE standard. "It's a bit the same problem with eclipse glasses," he explains. "When you buy, there is necessarily the marking. But afterwards, you have two problems: you have the problem of the marking which is put when the organization itself received a file which was not great, and you also have the problem of counterfeiting."
Contacted by franceinfo, the Que Choisir Ensemble association asks consumers to be extremely vigilant and calls on platforms that sell products that do not comply with their responsibility.
