Science at UM [S02-ep17]: From the impact of menstrual products on women's health to BioWooEB

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

This week on A l’UM la science, Ignacio Bravo, virologist at Mivegec, reveals 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 in the company of François Pinta and Kévin Candelier. Finally, Agnès Pesenti invites you to the next Science Bar on March 16 at Le Dôme. The program is 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 Rights Day, we have of course found you a topic... vaginas! 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 we always get the same drawings of uteruses and clitorises, the same debates about paid leave for painful periods! " As if our identities, our questions as women, our awareness, and our ways of engaging with the world to make policy couldn't escape the frills of our panties and our mythical feminine nature.

So no! Definitely not! We hadn't set out to talk about vaginas on a day like this. And then we came across this study, which began with the simple observation: "There are relatively few studies on the impact of menstrual products on women's health." There are studies on the impact that the coffee I drink in the morning or my sedentary lifestyle at work can have on my health, studies on the impact of watermelon-flavored e-cigarettes, time spent on the TikTok app, or pigeon droppings, but there are few or no studies on the impact that sanitary products have on women's health. Yet in terms of consumption, French women alone use more than 5 billion sanitary products every year. Historically, the phenomenon is not new either, since the use of the very first tampons dates back to ancient Egypt and, presumably, women have not stopped menstruating since then. In fact, this observation alone reminds us how much, even in 2023, talking about "pussy" in a patriarchal society is still a political act.

Our guest today is not a political scientist, sociologist, or women's rights specialist. Ignacio Bravo is a virology expert at the Mivegec laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Vector Ecology, Genetics, Evolution, and Control. He participated in this comparative study of the immune profile and vaginal microbiota of tampon and menstrual cup users. This study was published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

In the second part of the program, we take you to the BioWooEB laboratory for biomass, wood, energy, and bio-products, accompanied by François Pinta and Kévin Candelier.

Finally, Agnès Pesenti, head of the scientific culture department at the University of Montpellier, will talk to us about Brain Awareness Week, as the next Science Bar is partnering with this event with a discussion on the theme "Well-being in education: How and why?" It will take place on March 16 at 8 p.m. at the Brasserie le Dôme.

At UM Science, you have the program, so let's get started!

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

Listen to the program “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company