Vietnamese police to investigate condom recycling factory

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese police said they will investigate a factory that was found recycling about 320,000 used condoms for resale, local media reported Thursday.

Following a tip from a local resident, Binh Duong provincial market inspectors over the weekend raided a factory near Ho Chi Minh City where they found used condoms being repacked for sale at the market, the state-owned Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

A market inspector said the owner of the factory, a 34-year-old woman, confessed that they bought the used condoms from a man in the province. The condoms were washed, reshaped and packed into plastic packages, the newspaper said.

It said police announced they will investigate and track down others involved in the operation. A call to police for comment was not answered Thursday.

The newspaper quoted a health official as saying the recycled condoms posed an extreme health risk to users.