Science at UM [S02-ep17]: The Impact of Sanitary Products on Women’s Health at BioWooEB

[Podcast] - Published on March 9, 2023 under Research Centers, Science and Society, Research Structures

This week on "Science at UM," Ignacio Bravo, a virologist at Mivegec, shares a rare comparative study on the impact of tampons and menstrual cups on women's health. The report takes you to the BioWooEB laboratory for biomass, wood, energy, and bio-products, accompanied by François Pinta and Kévin Candelier. Finally, Agnès Pesenti invites you to the next Science Bar on March 16 at Le Dôme. A show broadcast every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on DivergenceFM-93.9. You can also find us on your podcast platform.

And on this March 8, 2023, International Women’s Day, we’ve obviously dug up a topic for you… that’s a bit out there! I can already hear you saying:“Every year it’s the same thing—we’re supposed to talk about the fight for women’s rights, and yet we’re always hit with the same drawings of uteruses and clitorises, the same debates about time off for painful periods! ” As if our identities, our questions as women, our realizations, and the ways we engage with the world to make policy couldn’t break free from the frills of our panties and our mythical feminine nature.

So no! Absolutely not! We weren’t planning on talking about vaginas on a day like this. And then we stumbled upon this study, which began with this simple observation:“There are relatively few studies on the impact of menstrual products on women’s health.” So there are studies on the impact that the coffee I drink in the morning or my sedentary lifestyle at work might have on my health, studies on the impact of watermelon-flavored vapes, time spent on the TikTok app, or pigeon droppings—but there are few or no studies on the impact that menstrual products have on women’s health. Yet in terms of consumption, French women alone use more than 5 billion sanitary products every year. Historically speaking, the phenomenon isn’t exactly new either, since the use of the very first tampons dates back to ancient Egypt, and women haven’t stopped menstruating since then. In fact, this observation alone reminds us just how much, even in 2023, talking about “vaginas” in a patriarchal society still amounts to making a political statement.

Our guest today is neither a political scientist, nor a sociologist, nor a specialist in women’s rights. Ignacio Bravo is a virology expert at the Mivegec laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Vectors: Ecology, Genetics, Evolution, and Control. He participated in this comparative study of the immune profiles and vaginal microbiota of users of tampons and menstrual cups. This study was published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

In the second half of the program, we’ll take you to the BioWooEB laboratory—specializing in biomass, wood, energy, and bioproducts—along with François Pinta and Kévin Candelier.

Finally, Agnès Pesenti, head of the scientific culture department at the University of Montpellier, will speak to us about Brain Awareness Week, as the next Bar des Sciences is partnering with this event for a discussion on the topic “Well-being in Education: How and Why?” The event will take place on March 16 at 8:00 p.m. at Brasserie Le Dôme.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Director: Tom Chevalier

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company