Hi,
I work for Cannon Hygiene, in Canada, and sell a product for the disposal of blood waste in used sanitary hygiene products.
The traditional public washroom has a stainless steel wall box with a paper bag inside. I fear the exterior of the wall box is infected with bacteria as well as certain viruses (such as hepatitis). I am offering an alternative, which means my sanitary disposal unit has a no-touch feature as well as a germicide that neutralizes viruses and bacteria. I need to know more about the risk of cross contamination regarding the disposal of used sanitary hygiene products. I also need to know about the health risk to the maintenance workers, since this is still blood waste.
Our objectives are:
1. to offer a more hygienic method for women to dispose of our blood waste in public areas.
2. to reduce the risk of cross contamination
3. to reduce the amount of waste the end up in our water filtration plants (let's not be foolish - this is blood waste).
I am looking for documents on viruses and bacteria that can be found in blood waste. Can you help me?
Christine Kearney
Sales manager, Cannon Hygiene
christine.kearney@sympatico.ca
(Canada) 450-444-5152
I happened upon your site when seeking information about a particular Pursettes tampon radio spot which aired in October or November of 1983 in the Saint Paul, Minnesota, area (perhaps on WLOL). What set this ad apart from anything I have ever heard is the fact that throughout the duration of the voice over, the background music playing was the opening piano sequence of the Alice Cooper song "Only Women Bleed." If you have any way of tracking this down and actually providing the audio I would be greatly thankful.
I'm really impressed by your Web site. [Many thanks!] I've learned a lot about menstruation and menstrual products. I'm 39 years old and I've been menstruating now for 26 years. For 2/3 of my whole life I've been bleeding for on average five days each month. Sometimes it feels like it's never going to end. But now that I'm getting closer to menopause I don't want it to end. Bleeding is part of being a women and it's something that women can share and talk about.
Here's a joke I remember from when I was a kid.
What's black and white and red all over?
A menstruating nun falling down the stairs.
[Read more humor.]
Thanks again for an informative, sensitive Web site (designed by a man). I'll be back.
From Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Your Web site is a disgrace and disgusting. Who cares? You think you're funny and a creative wit with your garbage - what a waste of resources.
Get a life, Harry!
I just have to say WOW!!! Your site is so interesting. At first I thought it was a little bizarre but I ended up spending hours just browsing your huge collection of artifacts.
I am a nursing student and find all of this info very interesting. I am young and now realize truly how blessed I am to have modern conveniences. I will surely tell others about this site.
Keep up the great work!!! [Thanks! I will.]
Dear Mr. Finley,
I spent the day linked to your site - which at first irritated me because the information was so stream of consciousness - and then delighted me for the same reason. I found you via Salon magazine ["Chronicling the curse: A visit to the Museum of Menstruation"].
I am an artist and illustrator also (now a Web-site designer), and appreciated your FAQ immensely. I like your interests and your explanations.
When I was in art school in the early 1970s and using Tampax, I noticed in the insert a line something like this: "If you have any questions about Tampax Tampons, contact Vera Milow at (whatever address, whatever phone number)." I can remember cracking up my girlfriends by talking about Vera Milow, and what her job was like, and what kinds of questions people asked her. Or whether she was a real person or if her name - a very sturdy and gym-teacherish name it seemed to me - had been concocted by a public relations firm.
I wonder if you couldn't find out. I sort of remember something that makes me think she was a registered nurse, but I could be imagining it. I noticed years ago that her name was no longer being used.
[My theory about these named customer-service people is that the names are fake, for a good reason. What happens if the named person dies, quits, gets promoted, or fired? The company can't keep changing the name on the package; it's inconvenient, confusing and gives the impression that turmoil reigns behind that box facade.]
Also, re: menstrual cups - I used Tassaways when they were first introduced. I used them on the first day of a freelance job doing my first professional comps of maps for the Washington, D.C., subway map. I was in an office with seven men. No women. The device failed catastrophically and publicly (the guys were using the bathroom all day as a darkroom to produce Color Key films for titles to use on exhibits at the Paris Airshow) and I was too embarrassed to go back to work the next day. Incidentally, I was unable to pee at all unless I removed the thing. It completely cinched my urethra. [Another user of the Tassaway wrote several News pages ago that the rings around this cup from the 1970s cut her].
MUM is a great site, and totally interesting. [Thanks!]
I was browsing through your Web site - I love it, and plan to show it to my daughter, who has just begun her periods.
My husband is able to predict the beginning of my periods quite accurately, two to three days before they begin. He says that I smell different all over, especially my breath is different. It's not an unpleasant smell, he says, but definitely distinct. I'm curious if this is common among women's partners.
Just call me,
"His nose knows"
Please, may I post a letter on your letter page?
I'm researching a documentary for the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] about menstruation - myths and facts and blessing or curse.
I have much information about the curse and prejudice but I am finding scant information about the blessing! I was thrilled to find medical information linking surgery for breast cancer and the menstrual cycle and the New Scientist report about differing medication levels required during the 28-day cycle, and the research about eating requirements differing during the cycle etc., but I want to hear from women who have evidence of the cycle as a blessing, for example, artists, writers, etc., who are at their most creative whilst menstruating.
I also want to meet women who practice menstrual seclusion, as with menstrual huts of the past [and of the present; women still use menstrual huts].
And anything and everything to do with research into menstruation.
Next week I am interviewing Mr Peter Redgrove and Penelope Shuttle who wrote the first book on menstruation that offered positive information, The Wise Wound, 1978. I am very excited about asking many questions resulting from the book. If you have any questions for them pertaining to the book or their second book, Alchemy for Women, about the dream cycle corresponding to the menstrual cycle, I would be delighted to forward them to them on your behalf. They are not on the net so any questions would have to have addresses!
Thank you so much for this glorious Web site [many thanks to you for saying that!] and I look forward to hearing from visitors to your site.
Ali Kedge.
ali@shortkedge.freeserve.co.uk or fflic.zip@business.ntl.com
Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.
