Glee Gum is made from harvested rainforest chicle, and it’s pretty decent.

Everyone knows that the rainforests of the Amazon in South America are valuable for their potential for disease cures, amazing collection of life, and simple aesthetic value. It is being cut down quickly, by farmers and others trying to use the soil for crops and other means. Well now the Brazilian government is trying to “kill two birds with one stone” by producing condoms using rubber from trees in the Amazon. The move will hopefully both help preserve the largest rainforest in the world and increase contraceptive use in Brazil, a win-win situation!

BBC News reports that a new state-run factory in Acre will produce upward of 100 million condoms a year, all produced by rubber tapped from the rainforest. The condoms will be called “Natex”, and be the only condoms made from rainforest latex. Hopefully they do better than the rainforest and don’t disappear right?

The factory seems like a good idea, producing 150 jobs, condoms to stop the spread of aid, and utilizing the rainforest in a non-destructive way. We hope Brazil is successful in producing exotic condoms for their populace! Sounds like fun! They might even be able to export this to hippies and nature lovers (emphasis on lovers) as a special condom. At the risk of sounding risque, I wouldn’t mind trying it out myself…

[BBC News]

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