BBC article: Menstrual blood tests could aid women's healthcare

[Whatdayisitnow]

The heading is promising, and the article mostly refers to females, women and girls, especially after the first paragraph.

“On any given day, about 800 million people around the world are on their period.” (The linked article from a USA government website actually says 800 million women and girls, having used “people” at the start of the sentence.)

I thought it was an interesting and interestingly written article, containing gems like:

“Companies like Qvin and Theblood are paying for their studies with venture capital funding, in the hope that that the fastest way to drive change may be through demonstrating that menstrual blood tests have value as a consumer product.
However, each admits that pitching to investors often means explaining the very basics of menstruation, like how tampons, sanitary pads, and menstrual cups are used.”

“During a cervical cancer test, a doctor will use a speculum to open the vagina and insert a small brush or spatula to scrape cell samples from the cervix at the entrance to the uterus. Pain relief is generally not offered.”

I think this research is really exciting.
I'd be much happier collecting menstrual blood in a sterile menstrual cup like device than a smear.

This is a genius idea and almost obvious to the point I'm now surprised no-one has already done this (or perhaps they tried and it got passed over).

That sounds great!

This Visible women podcast is worse a listen - absolutely jaw-dropping, particularly this bit where one woman had the following response when her research was peer reviewed;

"could not be accepted as it is since almost all articles in the literature reported the severe undesirable and toxic effects of menstrual blood and all its constituents on the human body. Even in all religions, it is well known that menstrual blood and its stem cells are extremely, very toxic and of very low quality. This blood contains the destructive metabolic constituents with very potent cytotoxic activities. Thus, in toxicological criminology, some women in some cultures use very few drops of its potent toxic extract to secretly kill their husbands."

www.tortoisemedia.com/audio/murderous-menstrual-blood/

I was staggered by how little funding or research has gone into into reproductive medicine in the UK - just 2%! Despite a third of women struggling with it.

Its still such a taboo subject.

I reel between being stunned and a "well that's bloody typical" complete lack of surprise.

From the same podcast: "I found a really interesting meta study that looks at different studies to do with health and what funding they’ve received from the NIH, which is the American government funding body. And surprise, surprise. It basically found that anything that affects women primarily is underfunded. Or if an issue primarily affects men, then it’s “overfunded.” It basically receives way more funding. And some of the most underfunded diseases are migraine, headaches, anorexia and endometriosis, which all predominantly affect women or exclusively affect women.... So to give an example, prostate cancer, for example, received 263 million in funding, endo received 13 million in 2019."

@UnaOfStormhold I don't know if I read your first post correctly, was that a response from the people who rejected a woman's research on menstrual blood? If so, where the hell did they get that 'information' from? and can I really kill someone with just a couple of drops?

Yes, this was the reason the reviewer gave for not approving the research. And on your second question, heaven only knows where that idea came from. From the transcript..

Caroline, narrating: Is menstrual blood a useful source of stem cells or is it radioactive waste that could ruin an unsuspecting harvest? And most pressingly, can I really use it to kill my husband?

Dr Christine Metz: I could just tell you that. When I had one of my grants on menstrual blood reviewed here in the States, one of the reviewers said that we’re not following any biohazard collection methods. And my response to that is, does any woman’s bathroom have a biohazard sticker on it? No.
^^

The ignorance is astounding!