“I have a masters in Geography, but now I work in a condom lab” – our tour guide and experienced PQC Lab Technician
Our last day of the first week consisted of a field trip first thing in the morning, which had been shrouded in mystery by the CTI staff. All we’d been told was that it was the PQC, or product quality and compliance lab, but after today, I know more about condoms than I ever thought I’d know – how they’re made, what they can withstand, and how long they last, among many other things. First thing Friday morning, Caroline and I rode with the UNC fellow, Lauren, and arrived at the nondescript office building that houses the PQC lab.
The lab provides quality assurance for many types of contraception and anti-malarial medicine, and is USAID’s (US Agency for International Development) quality provider for all condoms worldwide. They take a few dozen condoms from a batch of a few thousand and test them for various defects – dimensions, holes, elasticity, etc. – and if even a couple of the test group fail any test, the entire batch must be destroyed. Since the facility started in the 90s, it has tested over a billion condoms – and we got to see demonstrations of the tests.
Condoms – and other contraceptive devices – are left in sealed chamber for months at a time, and then technicians conduct tests and smell them To test for holes, the lab technicians filled them with 330 ccs (about a third of a liter of water) and then used the “squeeze and roll” method to see if any water could leak out. To test the packaging, the condoms are submerged in a sealed water chamber and the technicians watch for streams of bubbles. Speaking of sealed packaging, I was somewhat horrified to learn today that condoms aren’t required to be sterile, and our tour guide informed us he has found dirt, hair, and even insects in the condoms.The most interesting part of our tour was the airburst test. We got to watch as male and female condoms were inflated in a closed chamber until they exploded, as to pass quality standards the condoms must withstand a certain amount of pressure. It was fascinating to see just how much condoms can withstand, and we certainly had an interesting day at FHI 360.
– Hope
VID-1u3q4sm – video of the airburst test
