Spray On!

My Quest? Build A Better Condom
By Callie Lefevre
TIME, 7/31/08

Jan Vinzenz Krause, inventor, 30

German entrepreneur and sex educator who designed a spray-on condom made of liquid latex

There are lots of reasons scientists are looking for ways to make condoms more appealing--and safer--to use. TIME's Callie Lefevre asked Jan Vinzenz Krause about his efforts to make a spray-on condom.

How did you get this idea? I went to get my car washed. In Germany, you drive through a tunnel, and there's water coming from all sides. I was sitting in my car, and I said, "Yes! This is the idea! I will try this with a condom." So I went to a hardware store--I felt a little like MacGyver--and I bought a tube, put some holes in it, attached these nozzles and connected them to a box of liquid latex. The latex sprays out of the nozzles.

What's the advantage? The condom fits 100% perfectly, so the safety is much higher than a standard condom's, and it feels more natural.

Did product testers worry that spraying on latex protection would ruin the mood? Yes, that was mentioned. The prototype takes a few minutes to dry. For people to buy it, it needs to be ready in five to 10 seconds.

Any other hesitations? They were a little bit afraid to use the tube.

Are you waiting for someone to come up with a better latex formula? Right now, I have to focus on things I think will be successful in the immediate future.

So what's your latest project? A condom brand in six sizes. We developed this brand for the Web. Men on the Web--they are very honest.

Could you imagine kids getting a hold of this? The way I got a hold of my parents' condoms when I was in grade school. I thought the condoms were balloons, but my aunts insisted they weren't. So I demanded to know what they were. Being conservative, they didn't explain it further. Believing they were balloons, I blew them up and took it outside in the street to play, much to my aunts' mortification. They weren't good balloons to play with. They popped after they landed on a blade of grass.

So, what if a kid gets a hold of a spray on condom and sprays it on his schoolmates? He'll probably just think it's silly string.