IRMA Issues Global Call to Action: We Demand Answers on Lubricant Safety

More than 30 years into the HIV pandemic, we don't know whether sexual lubricants increase, decrease or have no impact on the risk of acquiring HIV and other STIs.

This is unacceptable. We demand answers on lubricant safety.

We demand a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda.

Please join us. Click here to endorse this global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety.

You may endorse the Call to Action as an organization or as an individual. As advocates, funders, researchers, lubricant manufacturers and regulators, we are committed to come together to develop and implement a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda. Men, women and transgender people from around the globe who engage in vaginal or anal intercourse deserve access to safe, condom-compatible sexual lubricants. Endorse the global Call to Action now.

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Recent studies have raised questions about the impact of sexual lubricants on the risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

It is outrageous that more than 30 years into the HIV pandemic, we don't know whether sexual lubricants increase, decrease or have no impact on the risk of acquiring HIV and other STIs. In fact, it is only recently that most advocates, HIV prevention workers, researchers and regulators have even realised that we don't yet know the answers to these fundamental questions.

Today, there are only a few disparate studies related to lube safety underway. These studies do not form part of an overarching plan to answer questions about lubricant safety because there isn't one.

This is unacceptable. We demand answers on lubricant safety.

We demand a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda and insist upon its quick implementation. We must know whether or not various types of sexual lubricants are safe for vaginal and rectal use. We must understand fully what impact they have on the risk of acquiring HIV and STIs.

• As advocates, funders, researchers, lubricant manufacturers and regulators, we are committed to come together to develop and implement a Lubricant Safety Research Agenda.
• As advocates, we support more research, funding, and collaboration to determine whether lubricants are safe.
• As funders, we will support the research and collaborative work required to determine whether lubricants are safe. Funding for lubricant safety research will not come out of budgets for microbicide research or other new prevention technologies.
• As researchers, we will conduct the appropriate studies required to determine whether lubricants are safe.
• As lubricant manufacturers, we will list the ingredients used to manufacture lubricants and work with researchers and regulators to ensure that our products are safe.
• As regulators, we will provide guidance into the research data required to ensure that lubricants available on the market are safe.

Endorse the Call to Action on Lubricant Safety

Men, women and transgender people from around the globe who engage in vaginal or anal intercourse deserve access to safe, condom-compatible sexual lubricants.

Please endorse this global Call to Action on Lubricant Safety. You may endorse the Call to Action as an individual or as an organization.

Click here for more information about the safety of sexual lubricants. You will find links to factsheets, backgrounders, reports, articles and webinar recordings.