Vietnamese authorities discovered the illegal and highly icky set up in an apartment in the Binh Duong province.
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Pham Thi Thanh Ngoc, the 33-year-old "business owner" stated that she had been receiving the used condoms once a month by an unknown person. Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre News stated that all the used condoms found at the illegal production base were unlabelled and unpackaged.
Local reports claim workers were hired in the strange money-making scheme to clean and dry the condoms before reshaping them with different sized wooden dildos, repackaging them and selling them, all under unhygienic conditions. The company owner was taken into custody after the raid but it is unclear how many condoms had already been distributed. Reports conclude that the condoms were being supplied to the nearby hotels and markets.
It's more common than you think
If you think that washing and reusing your condoms is a no-brainer than think again. Just a few years ago the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention tweeted a PSA to sexually active Americans asking them not to reuse their condoms. The tweet stated:
Don't wash or reuse condoms. We say it, because people do it.
According to the Daily Mail, at least 3% of people have tried to wash and reuse their condoms at least once. Considering the population of the US, that's still a lot of people. We've all experienced the moment of getting in the mood with your significant other only to realise you ran out of Johnnies. And, while a trip to the store may ruin the mood, washing and reusing your condoms still seems a little far-fetched. Let's remember, you can wash a condom all you want but it doesn't stop the spread of STI's.
However, the nasty practice was once fairly common and musicians such as the Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello even sung songs about washing their rubbers but that was back in the '70s. Now, rubbers can be picked up at health centres for free so there's really no reason to recycle them (unless you're just trying to do your part in reducing waste).
