Let us stop and think for a moment. Those previously unable are now indulging their new found powers. Suppose that for every sexual encounter there was some chance that your partner would infect you. This means that by increasing the population of sexually active adults, you are increasing the incidence of sexually related diseases.
Consider Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, SIDS. If a magical salve eliminated this tragedy, more teenagers would die in car accidents.
Who is really at fault? The company that caused the erection or the man that used it?
January 22, 2007 at 1:40 pm
What would be interesting is to look at it in terms of rates. If we reduced the number dying of SIDS we would expect the percentage of teenagers dying in car accidents to remain about the same right? As you would expect no selection problem with there being some correlation between those who are saved by using the drug and those who get in car accidents.
I am less convinced though that there is no correlation between those using Viagra and those likely to get HIV. I’m not sure which direction it would go though. If those using Viagra are those in monogomous married relationships (older married men) then I’d expect Viagra to reduce the percentage of sexually active people who get infected. If on the other hand Viagra is used more by unmarried people, or people who have multiple sexual partners, then I’d expect Viagra to increase the percentage of sexually active people who get infected.
Whether any of this is significant is another matter entirely. I’ve lost 90% of my faith in the media and non-statistic based firms when making claims about anything relating to signficance and numbers.
January 22, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Can we be sure that the incidence of sexually related diseases will increase as condom use becomes more common? This seems like an empirical matter dependent on elasticity.
January 22, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Thats the thing, I’d be interested to know how often these people who spout numbers actually do empirics
December 9, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.