Medicine: Birth Control: New Look at the Old

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Once they were kept discreetly hidden under the pharmacist's counter. Purchasers asked for them in a hushed whisper and carried them off in an innocuous paper bag. Suddenly condoms* have become respectable. Produced in dazzling colors, materials and designs, these most ancient of male birth-control devices can now be openly displayed in 46 states, along with cough syrups, hair sprays and skin cream. Though exact figures are kept secret, sales have now apparently climbed to $150 million a year, probably double that of five years ago. Condoms have even become something...

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