Dear Editor

I found your “In-depth” section on “The Buzz about the Birds and the Bees” in the March 30, 2006 Highlander very interesting.  I found your coverage of a very controversial topic to be accurate, balanced and quite professional. 

It was with mixed feelings that I saw the results of the survey.  While it was a real testimony to how much the students of McLean High School care about their classmates, themselves and their futures in being below the national average in the number of students that are sexually active, it also saddened me to see the percent of students that are still putting themselves and their futures at risk. 

I believe that you did a good job in discussing one of those risks in the “STDs Rampant in Today’s Teens” article.  One area in that article that you might want to research in more depth is the degree of protection provided by condoms.  The CDC (a slightly better source than Planned Parenthood) has reported on studies that found that when used correctly condoms provide approximately 85% effectiveness against HIV, 50% effectiveness for men and 0% effectiveness for woman against gonorrhea, and 0% effectiveness against HPV and syphilis.  Considering the accuracy with which teenagers use condoms (~70%) these levels of effectiveness would be even lower for more realistic use.  This contributes to statistics that indicate that the percent of sexually active teens that will contract a sexually transmitted disease is closer to 50%.  Those are pretty bad odds.

Thank you for your professional coverage of this topic.  The section was truly in-depth and covered many of the critical issues associated with teen sexual promiscuity.  I look forward to reading future “In-depth” sections of the McLean Highlander.

Sincerely,

Steve Hunt

Fairfax County School Board

Member, At-large

P.S.  This letter expresses my opinions and is not an official position of the Fairfax County School Board.