Lusaka — As the debate in Zambia over the advertisement of condoms on national television rages on, Zambia's Education minister Godfrey Miyanda has dvised Zambians who have contracted the HIV virus while using condoms to sue companies manufacturing and promoting their use in the country.

Miyanda, who spoke at an international workshop for Youth Alive Zambia, charged that Zambians were not being given an opportunity to make informed choices about condoms and their failure rate was not communicated to them.

Miyanda, who is also patron of the Youth Alive, said the high volume of sales for condoms did not translate into lower rates of HIV infection.

He said the messages in condom advertising should be moderate and carry a health warning sign.

Meanwhile, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation or ZNBC Wednesday announced that it has withdrawn condom adverts from television because they were sending wrong signals to the public.

Miyanda had called on ZNBC to include a policy that tones down on sensual and pornographic adverts.

ZNBC public relations manager Ben Kangwa said in a press statement that the public attack on two condom adverts had reached levels where the corporation had to review the adverts which were said to be inappropriate as they placed much emphasis on the use of condoms rather than abstinence.

"We observed that the technical content in the messages were not accurate and were sending wrong messages.

"We therefore decided to withdraw the spots. This, we believe, is one way in which ZNBC as a public broadcaster is exercising moral responsibility to its viewers and listeners," Kangwa said.

President Frederick Chiluba recently said he did not personally believe in the use of condoms because they are a sign of weak morals on the part of the user.

He advised that people refrain from casual sex instead of relying on the usage of condoms as a protective measure.

Last week Health Minister Enoch Kavindele, responding to some calls to have the adverts withdrawn from television, supported the airing of the adverts.

The conspiracy of silence should be stopped and the message of the HIV/AIDS pandemic broadcast in all the media in order to change people's sexual behaviour, he said.

Kavindele said although the advertisements may appear to be offensive to some people, they represented reality of the situation and by airing them, they are trying to give people sufficient information in a memorable way which will empower them to make informed choices.

"Vigorous public education campaigns on the importance of taking measures to control the rise of new infections should be encouraged," Kavindele said.

The Muslims community this week also requested to stop selling condoms in Zambia. Sheikh Idris Hashimi Ali, a Muslim leader, said that all the Muslims have requested that the selling condoms of should stop.

According to Islamic teaching, he said, condoms do not cure any disease but encourage the spread of HIV/AIDS epidemic and adultery.

Ali also asked sheikhs in Zambia to fight hard and teach the members of the Islamic community against the AIDS scourge.

About one million people in Zambia are said to be living with the HIV while about 650,000 cumulative deaths have occurred in adults and children as a result of AIDS.