Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Rubber Tappers Manufacture Condoms

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 14 2008 (IPS) - The first government-run condom factory in the Brazilian Amazon was inaugurated Apr. 7 in Xapuri, a small town in the northwestern state of Acre, where a quarter of the 15,000 inhabitants are “seringueiros”, or rubber tappers, who harvest natural latex from the forest. The factory will employ 150 workers to produce 100 million condoms per year, using 500,000 tons of latex extracted by 550 families on the Chico Mendes Reserve. The families will also be provided basic sanitation and solar energy.

Last year in Brazil the Health Ministry distributed 120 million condoms, nearly all of them imported.

“In addition to promoting the environmentally sustainable work of the rubber tappers, the project will help regulate the market,” Ellen Zita, of the National AIDS Program, which has pushed the industry in association with other groups and government agencies, told Tierramérica.

Initially the factory will produce only male condoms, but “we are already planning to produce female condoms,” said Zita.