PORTLAND, Ore.—The makers of Probe Personal Lubricants recently passed tests used by the World Health Organization for use with condoms.
Over the past several years an increasing body of research focused on interaction between commercial lubricants and biological cells has produced guidelines for avoiding harm and attempting to mitigate the spread of disease.
These guidelines are summarized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of their lubricant procurement process for condoms.
WHO determined that the primary physical characteristic for choosing a safe water-based
lubricant is osmolality, a measurement of concentration. Cells can be damaged by osmolal extremes; high osmolality cause cells to shrink, while low osmolality causes cells to swell and possibly burst.
WHO based their decision, in part, on independent research involving 41 commercially available lubricants. This research discovered that the majority of lubricants tested were at osmolal extremes. Only Probe Personal Lubricant and the test control were not found extreme.
Further details for Probe personal lubricants can be found here.
