Some health friendly tips for the female reproductive organs.

Visit any medical website, and you’ll learn that vaginal dryness is a common health complaint that women have regarding sexual intimacy. It can lead to itching, burning and painful sex, and is caused by a number of things such as menopausal or hormonal changes, childbirth, surgeries, medicine, douching and lack of adequate foreplay.  If you do experience dryness, they recommend the use of personal lubrications.

Makes common sense, right?

What most sites rarely explain is that they type of lubrication you use can either make the dryness disappear…or end up forcing you to put a Do Not Enter sign over your nether bits.

Ansel Muir Hall, the CEO of Blossom Organics, a company that makes natural and organic aloe-based lubrication explains that the reason may be in the ingredients. Personal lubricants are popular and the market is “dominated by brands that are starting to offer better products, but most [sold today] include a host of ingredients that are truly questionable,” he explains.

As one of 3 co-founders for Blossom Organics, Hall (who is named after Ansel Adams and John Muir) told me that the company was founded on the principle that people want clean and healthy alternatives.

“Women are becoming concerned with living cleaner, healthier lifestyle. This means making good, smart choices about the products they use, but an area equally or more important that has been largely forgotten is intimacy products.”

There’s also been a general apathy among some environmentalists to examine sexuality and sexual health concerns. It’s a trend that is slowly changing as more advocates find what some advocates call their e-Spot. “If a woman is concerned with what she put on her skin, she should be even more concerned with what she’s putting in the most absorbent skin her body – her vagina,” says Hall.

What ingredients should you avoid in lubricants?

Though this list isn’t by any means complete, some questionable ingredients include: parabens, petrochemicals, benzene derivatives such as sodium benzoate, methyl, ethyl and propylparaben, and benzoate of soda. Boric acid, salicylates and cinnamic aldehyde (an ingredient used in ‘hot’ lubricants) are also questionable.

Hall’s question to women who want to have safer, healthier, better sex is this: why take the risk? Companies like Blossom Organics offer great alternatives. Go with natural, organic and proven safe ingredients, he says.

Whose Fault is It?

Many women have a reaction to the product they are using, and might think the problem is their body, not the lubrication. One reason these ingredients need to be avoided during sex is because your skin can absorb things more readily than if it’s something taken orally.

Take just one potentially toxic ingredient: Parabens.

According to Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D. and founder of Holistic Wisdom, an organization which provides empowering education, products and resources to promote sexual wellness, it’s best to avoid them all together. In an article for NaturalNews.com, she writes:

“Parabens are controversial toxins that have been shown to alter estrogen in females, increase allergies, decrease sperm count in men, contribute to skin cancer and disrupt normal fetal development in pregnant women.”

Regulations are poor and inadequate, she explains. The consequence is that many products contain toxins, and “there are many unanswered questions about what consumers are using on and inside their body.”

What’s more, most consumers in the middle east and beyond are unaware of what is in their personal lubricant or the effect on their health.

“If a woman is concerned with what she put on her skin, she should be even more concerned with what she’s putting in the most absorbent skin her body – her vagina.” Ansel Muir Hall

11 Possible Brutal Consequences

When it comes to safe sex and using the right lube, it’s consumer beware. Unless you know exactly what’s in that jar of jelly, you could be exposing yourself to some potentially unpleasant side effects and health concerns, suggests NaturalNews.com and other sites. Loopholes in the regulation of the sex product industry, limited testing or inadaquate reporting (depending on where a consumer lives) of reactions mean that you could experience any number of ailments and not know what ingredient, or combination of exposures, contributed to the following conditions.

• Rashes and/or skin lesions
• Fatigue
• Nerve degeneration
• Yeast (candida) infections
• Inflammation
• Myalgia
• Cancer
• Reduced sperm count
• Birth defects
• Liver damage
• Insulin resistance

Safer sex tips

Our advice is simple

1. Only use a product that clearly reveals all the ingredients to you.

2. Avoid using anything with the ingredients listed above.

3. If you can’t find or order a product like Blossom Organics, and are in a pinch, consider using something like coconut oil, vitamin E or even olive oil (though oils are not advised for use with latex condoms).

4. Never use something like motor oil, petrolatum or mineral oil.

The biggest challenge is getting the word out there,” says Hall of Blossom Organics when it comes to using good, healthy ingredients in intimate care. “We need to have an a more open dialogue about the importance of sexual health in our society. We are moving in that regard, and people are making that happen.”

In other words, it is up to you to be smart and practice safe sex when it comes to your intimate wellbeing.

Read More Sexual Health News:

3 Ways Eco-Consciousness Can Improve Your Love Life

Why are Environmentalists Avoiding the e-Spot?

The post 11 Brutal health consequences of using the wrong lube appeared first on Green Prophet.

BPA though banned in products like baby bottles is still all around us. An ‘estrogen mimicker’, it has been linked to precocious puberty in females and the feminization of males including urogenital defects and malformed penises.

Plastics that are labeled with a number 7 contain BPA. While governments around the world have taken measures to reduce exposure to this chemical, estimates are that up to 90 percent of humans have traces in their bodies. So we have to ask, where is the BPA, or Bisphenol A, coming from? Read on to find out good reasons why you should limit plastic in your lives, including what’s in your food, and every bit of plastic that goes into your kid’s mouth.

The state of California recently put another nail in BPA’s coffin, listing it as a reproductive toxin.

The downside is that this ruling by the Food and Drug Administrations has no direct bearing on consumers in the Middle East. A ban on BPA in bottles is insufficient in the long term, failing to address the many sources of this compound or the long list of other compounds tweaking our reproductive health.

It is simply insufficient protection against the potential harm to all of us.

The Wall Street Journal reports: “BPA is found in hundreds of plastic items from water bottles to CDs to dental sealants. Some researchers say ingesting the chemical can interfere with development of the reproductive and nervous systems in babies and young children.”

They Wall Street Journal article point to dozens of studies showing such an effect from BPA in rodents and other animals.

It continues: “But the FDA has repeatedly stated that those findings cannot be applied to humans. The federal government is currently spending $30 million on its own studies assessing the chemical’s health effects on humans.

“It is estimated that ‘about 90 percent of Americans have traces of BPA in their urine, mainly as a result of food and beverage packaging.”

Despite the FDA’s caution regarding applying the results of animal studies to human outcomes, consumer groups have taken a stronger stance

For example, the Plastic Pollution Coalition of which Green Prophet is a member states that “the alarm over the widespread use of BPA is entirely warranted.

“BPA has been linked with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, breast and prostate cancer, early puberty, obesity, diabetes, infertility, erectile dysfunction, and learning and attention-related disorders.”

They reference a review of more than 800 studies published recently in the journal Endocrine Reviews which shows that even extremely small doses of BPA can be toxic.

“The study authors conclude that due to the effects of low doses of hormone-disrupting chemicals, ‘fundamental changes in chemical testing and safety determination are needed to protect human health’.”

BPA is just one worrisome compound in some plastics.  According to an October 2011 list compiled by TEDx’s Endocrine Disruption Exchange, there are at least 870 known chemicals that can mimic hormones and therefore alter our bodies and our systems.

In a May 2012 article on harmful chemicals, Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times wrote that “nation’s safety system for endocrine disruptors is broken.”

Citing several studies and conclusions by scientists  – linking things like congenital birth defects in boys to micro-penises in alligators – it’s the opinion of this author that regulatory agencies and governments around the world have essentially failed to protect their citizens from a decades long assault on our sexual and reproductive health.

Kristoff writes: “Scientists have long known the tiniest variations in hormone levels influence fetal development. For example, a female twin is very slightly masculinized if the other twin is a male, because she is exposed to some of his hormones. Studies have found that these female twins, on average, end up slightly more aggressive and sensation-seeking as adults but have lower rates of eating disorders.”

Why after almost 20 years since the term endocrine disrupters was coined are we still so exposed and at risk from these chemicals? Aside from a failure of adaquate protection, in part it may also be because most don’t fully appreciate how nuanced and sensitive the endocrine system is.

It takes very little of a hormone, synthetic or not, to impact us. Microscopic levels of exposure (parts per billions), the timing of exposure (fetal exposure is often far riskier) or long-term damage (in some cases, it is children of those who were exposed who suffer the consequences) means we are all at risk.

What can you do besides avoid plastic bottles with or without BPA? The answer is simple: Avoid plastics all together. We dare you!

Image via Boston Public Library

The post BPA Is Now a Reproductive Toxin in the US – Be Wary of All Plastics appeared first on Green Prophet.

A plant-rich diet is best for your sexual and reproductive wellbeing.

The Mediterranean Diet is often hailed as an excellent choice for those who want to ensure lifelong vitality, fertility and reproductive stamina. This diet is noteworthy for what’s it in – whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fresh fruits and vegetables, fatty fish and limited dairy, eggs and red meat – as it is for what’s not in it: processed foods. Others tout the value of vegan (“Vegan” is the new “Viagra” is a popular meme) and vegetarianism as best for us and our nether bits.

Whatever foods make it to your shopping list and table, there are some key ingredients that serve all foodies and lovers of aphrodisiacs alike. I call these the 4 Fs of eating for optimal sexual health.

First of all, it makes sense that the more fresh foods we eat, the better our overall health and vitality will be. The SLOW food movement emphasizes eating sustainably and locally grown. Organic and whole serve our bodies, minds and souls best. Sexual vigor depends on having strong and well-functioning organs to pump the blood and produce the hormones that regulate our sexual activities. Ovulation and sperm production are enhanced by nutrition-rich diets. Phytochemicals, enzymes and antioxidants are also essential.

Sometimes it gets overwhelming to choose wisely when there’s so much advice about nutrition out there. That’s why the 4 Fs comes in handy. If eating for sexual health ranks high on your shopping list, and you want to stock a sex-friendly pantry, consider eating more:

Fiber: We need this to clean out the debris in our bodies. Fiber is essential for our digestion, and fiber from whole-grains also helps with insulin function. Think of things like millet, quinoa (which is a yummy alternative to use in Tabouli salad), buckwheat and amaranth, sweet potatoes and whole grain breads as the go-to choices for healthy sexy menus.

Fruits and Veggies: Suggesting people eat more fruits and vegetables seems like a no-brainer. In addition to getting your 5-9 servings a day, make it a habit to have 3-5 different colors on your plate at each meal. This will make it more likely that you get a wider variety of nutrients from your plant-based diet. A healthy and sexy body depends on an abundance of vitamins and minerals that feed the brain and the heart.

Fats: Healthy fats are a necessity for sexual wellbeing. First of all, the brain needs these to function. Essential fatty acids like Omega 3 and 6 are absolutely necessary for hormone production. The key to eating fats is to make sure they are the right kind – in this case, healthy options include olive oil, fatty fish like salmon and tuna (though one must also consider where our fish comes from and avoid mercury contaminated fish) avocado, nuts and seeds. Middle East cuisine contains an ample supply of these types of fats compared to the typical Western diet that includes more animal fats. Not surprisingly, lower rates of erectile dysfunction are found in societies that eat the right kinds of fats (and excercise, etc.)

Flavor: This is the most esoteric suggestion of the four. Foods that are delicious and well seasoned please the palate and much as our parts. Experimenting with herbs and spices enhances the cooking and eating experience for the chef and the guest. In some cases, there is evidence that certain herbs and spices have aphrodisiac or healthy benefits. The role of flavor is even deeper than infusing the food with vitaliciousness. What we eat and how we eat in a fast paced world can benefit from savoring the flavors, allowing our tongues to caress the textures in our mouths, letting the joy of consumption take over for a bit.

The 4 Fs are just one pillar of vital eating. How we eat and where our food comes is intimately connected to taking better care of the planet and one another. After all, sexual wellbeing thrives when our bodies are nourished the right way, and when our minds and hearts are receptive and invigorated by meaningful connections to one another.

Image of portrait of a young woman eating lettuce, Shutterstock

Read more Food News:

Food Shortage Could Force World to go Veggie

The World’s Most Expensive Spicy Aphrodisiac: It really Works!

Tinamarie Bernard is a natural intimacy coach and blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com.

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With dwindling environmental resources and rampant poverty exacerbated by rapidly growing populations, family planning is a crucial environmental issue across the Middle East.

According to a recent report by The Jordan Times almost 25 percent of births in Jordan are unplanned because of a lack of available family planning resources.

Iraq and Yemen have especially high fertility rates, with the potential to double their populations by 2100. Qatar and Bahrain also have steadily growing birthrates.

And so as is the case across the planet, but especially so in the Middle East, women’s reproductive rights are intertwined with issues beyond gender equality. Poverty, national security, environmental problems and economic development are all influenced by women’s access to family planning resources.

During the last week of May the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), met in Paris to sign an agreement linking reproductive rights and family planning to climate change, especially in developing countries.

These agreements were created before the Rio+20 U.N. Summit in Brazil in the hopes of making women’s health a priority in global climate talks. Egypt’s Kenana NGO For Women And Youth Development and Dr. Hala Yousry, a representative from an Egyptian Arab women’s group, signed onto the Women’s Rio+20 petition urging the U.N. to link women’s health and equality to sustainable development efforts.

It’s naive to think that a U.N. agreement would automatically impact the planet’s dire overpopulation problem. A woman’s access to family planning is complex, depending on her education, resources and community infrastructure. No ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution would be able to address population control and reproductive rights across the religiously and culturally diverse Middle East. It will not be quick or easy. But finding appropriate, local solutions is vital to the region’s stability.

Image of pregnant woman from Shutterstock

Read more about the growing population in the Middle East:

World Population Hits 7 Billion Today
MENA and the Muslim World: Can Having Less Babies Really Save The World?
Iranian President Wants Girls to Marry at 16

The post Women, Rio+20 and the Green Future of the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Jet fuel in breast milk? Breasts getting bigger than generations ago? These are just two discoveries that investigative journalist, Florence William’s, shares in her latest book about the environmental impact on breasts.

Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (2012) is more than an ode to those beguiling curves; it is part of the growing body of research and awareness about eco-conscious intimacy, a movement some are calling ‘ecosexuality.’ A term originally coined by Greenpeace about 10 years ago, among other things ecosexuality invites us to examine the impact of toxins on our reproductive selves.

“For such an enormously popular feature of the human race — even today, when they are frequently bikinied, bared, flaunted, measured, inflated, sexted, YouTubed, suckled, pierced, tattooed, tassled and in every way fetishized — it’s remarkable how little we know about their basic biology,” Williams says.

Being made primarily of fat and glandular tissue, “breasts, it turns out, are a particularly fine mirror of our industrial lives,” Williams explains. “In the course of a lifetime, [they] meet many friends and foes: lovers, babies, ill-fitting undergarments, persistent pollutants, maybe a nipple ring, a baggie of silicone or a dose of therapeutic radiation. It’s a lot to ask of breasts.”

Measurable consequences include bigger breasts developed earlier with toxins finding hiding places in unsuspecting bosoms. Toxins come from industrial sources including air pollution. William’s had her breast milk tested and found that it was laced with miniscule amounts of jet fuel. However, consumers are also inadvertently exposed to daily household use items.

Many of those are in our beauty, cleaning and pleasure aid products. For example, lead in lipsticks reduces fertility in men and women. Toluene in nail polish and hair dye stops menstruation and decreases sperm count. Phthalates are reproductive toxins found in fragrances, cosmetics, and personal care products (even many vibrators and dildos). Bisphenol-A in plastics has been shown to cause spontaneous abortions and alter a man’s sperm.

Breast cancer rates vary around the globe, with women in Israel having rates similar to the west. It kills fewer women than heart disease, but because its scars reach deeper than our skin, it’s the rallying call that resonates with women’s private erotic selves. This touches on another aspect of the ecosex movement; our attitudes towards pleasure, our bodies and what is considered ‘natural.’ For better or for worse, Williams message about breast health underscores the complicated relationship society often has with the female body.

From the author’s website:

“Feted and fetishized, the breast is an evolutionary masterpiece. But in the modern world, the breast is changing… and attracting newfangled chemicals. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against us in the struggle with breast cancer – even among men. What makes breasts so mercurial – and so vulnerable?”

Her investigation follows the life cycle of the breast from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, bringing her from a plastic surgeon’s office where she learns about the importance of cup size in Texas to a lab where she discovers the presence of environmental toxins in her own breast milk.

Endowed with a witty and inquisitive voice, Williams explores where breasts came from, where they have ended up, and what we can do to save them.

Florence Williams work often focuses on the environment, health and science. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for New York Times, New York Times Magazine and numerous other publications.

Read more breast health news:
Ecosex and Why Environmentalists Are Avoiding the e-Spot
Are Hormones in the Environment Making Women’s Breasts Bigger?
Natural Breast Enhancement

The post Breast Milk Worth More Than Oil appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel will host the first SlutWalk in the Middle East this weekend, but the movement has growing support in other countries, including Morocco. Will these efforts finally lead to greater freedom for women of all religious persuasions?

When I wrote the article, The Middle East Needs More Sluts, the response was overwhelming and heated, with opinions following roughly along religious lines.  Secular and progressive readers understood that the title was more than a headline grabber, and an invitation to reconsider the negative stereotypes of language used to denigrate and control women. The more conservative respondents were horrified by the language, and pointed to the moral values of modesty, something they couldn’t see in women who seemed to dress, look or act certain ways.

Both groups have valid points. Now that SlutWalk is coming to Israel, will they meet at the intersection and finally talk?

Even as I champion the causes of social justice and women’s rights, particularly sexual and reproductive wellbeing, I’m also conscious how that freedom must be balanced with a deep sense of self and other respect.  Modesty and sexual freedom may not seem like common bedfellows, but they are part of the whole continuum of empowering women and men alike.

That is because the real power of SlutWalk is the separation of a woman’s worth from her sexuality. Male or female in fact – our morality and virtue must be severed from our reproductive rights and abilities. SlutWalk isn’t just for those who dress provocatively or experience their sexuality outside current social morays.  It’s a statement of freedom for everyone who specifically understands and wants to eradicate harm from vitriolic language and ‘slut-shaming,’ as well as those who believe that full and complete female emancipation benefits us all.

What’s more, creating an environmentally sustainable world rests on women’s shoulders.  “Women are often the first ones to transmit [environmental] values to their societies and children,” wrote Green Prophet founder and editor, Karin Kloosterman, in SlutWalk Israel –  A First for the Middle East.

Israel isn’t the only country in the MENA region focused on this effort. SlutWalk Morrocco boasts an active Facebook page for those who read French.

Finally, another essential factor of SlutWalk cannot be stressed enough: The surest route to maintaining environmentally sustainable populations is basic sexual rights for women.

It Starts With Basic Human Rights

The International Women’s Health Coalition’s stance on the right of women to control their sexuality is unequivocal on this.

“The right of women to control their sexuality—the basis for sexual rights—is an indivisible part of their human rights, and that without it, women cannot fully realize their other human rights. This notion has been reaffirmed at several subsequent international meetings, but in practice, few countries’ laws and policies provide women with effective protection against coercion, discrimination, and violence, and fundamentalist states and movements all over the world consistently target women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy.”

Nicholas D. Kristof, renowned a New York Times Op-Ed columnist and co-author with Sheryl WuDunn of, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009), pointed out that critical relationship between elevating the roles of woman and building stronger societies.

He writes: “greater female involvement in society and the economy appears to undermine extremism and terrorism.  Now it is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor; the reasons aren’t fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp or a high-school boys’ locker room.”

How Women Help the Planet

Creating an environmentally sustainable world also requires the full participation and emancipation of women. Robert Engleman, author of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want (Island Books, 2007), addressed this in an interview with WorldWatch Institute.  He asserts that in societies where women’s rights are equal to men’s, women take control of their own fertility and invariably have two or fewer children, on average. Such low fertility rates then lead to a gradual decline in population in the absence of net immigration.

“It makes sense that those who bear children and do most of the work in raising them should have the final say in when, and when not, to do so. By making their own decisions based on what’s best for themselves and their children, women ultimately bring about a global good that governments could never deliver through regulation or control: a population in balance with nature’s resources.”

SlutWalk Israel may not be a comfortable medium for many in the Middle East, and there are those who will denounce the effort as meaningless, offensive, disrespectful or ill-advised. “But when enraged voices need to be heard, maybe a SlutWalk is a good way to vent frustrations and create a lot of press attention to the issues at hand,” writes Kloosterman.

Other bloggers have taken even stronger stances:

“Let’s separate sex and power for one second, and admit that in a 21st Century world, telling women that what they wear somehow impedes their message is antiquated. We ought to move forward in a world where a woman can dress how she would like and not be told she’s “asking for it”, not be told she’s not “serious” because her manner of dress doesn’t conform to so predetermined, archaic norm prescribed by men in order to control their impulses. The desire to rape is a psychological urge primarily experienced by men that they must deal with. Leave women out of it.”

And Alona Ferber for Haaretz Daily Newspaper wrote: “Whether or not you agree with the medium, perhaps one of the most important messages SlutWalk can deliver is that whatever their religion, taste in clothes, or sexual preference, women, and men for that matter, should be free to make their own choices, without being subject to prejudice, stereotype or violence.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Read More on Women’s Rights:
SlutWalk Israel – A First for the Middle East
Egyptian Women Forced to Take ‘Virginity’ Tests During Protest, Amnesty International
US Senator Olympia Snowe Leads Women in Renewed Call for Women’s Rights in the Middle East
When Females Rule Fornication, Mother Earth Delights

The post SlutWalk Israel A Step Forward For Religious and Conservative Women appeared first on Green Prophet.

Contraception for those under age 18 is a controversial topic that challenges the conservative morays in the Middle East and, apparently the United States government. In the case of a new ruling by the Obama Administration, health care and human rights advocates appear pitted against those who form public policy. Lost in the fray are under-aged and sexually active individuals who may not get access to medically approved pregnancy prevention pills.

Case in point: condoms are okay to sell on the shelves in the United States, but the morning after pill is not. In a surprise decision and against the advice of the Food and Drug Administration, the contraception in question, Plan B, is being kept locked up behind the pharmacy counter even though it has been approved for sale without a prescription to those over the age of 17. The reason?

“Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled scientists at the Food and Drug Administration who were preparing to let Plan B sell without a prescription to people of any age.” According to the same report, President Obama backed Sebelius’ decision.

Plan-B is manufactured and distributed by Teva Pharmaceuticals, the international pharmaceutical giant headquartered in Israel. It contains a higher dose of Progestin to prevent ovulation and fertilization, and 1.5 mg of levonorgestrel, an ingredient that “has been used in many birth control pills for several decades.”

It does not terminate a pregnancy but prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine lining. It works best when taken with 24 hours of unprotected sex, but can be used up to three days (72 hours).

Plan B, when used correctly, prevents pregnancy up to 89% of the time.

Read more on the effects of hormones, our health and the environment.

Sexual health advocates are displeased with the decision. Dr. Robert Block of the American Academy of Pediatrics said Sebelius’ decision was “medically inexplicable.”

Other medical professionals who support the availability of Plan B to all ages assert that few sexually active adolescents will be readily able to pay for the pill, which retails for approximately $50.00. Putting the morning after pill next to condoms and spermicides will increase access to contraception for those who are sexually active of all ages, they have contended.

One source reported on a Teva-funded study that tracked 11-17 year olds seeking emergency contraception:

“Nearly 90 percent of them used Plan B safely and correctly without professional guidance, said Teva Vice President Amy Niemann. But Teva wouldn’t say how many of the youngest girls were part of the study,” Yahoo! Health News stated.

Is the pill the most environmentally way to prevent pregnancy?

In an article relating reproductive rights news, it’s important to address the bigger environmental picture. Hormone use to prevent pregnancy revolutionized sexual health, though more recent concerns about the impact on our waterways – prococious puberty and feminized fish are two commonly discussed possible consequences to excess hormone waste – has led to environmentalists advocating for other, greener contraception, a topic we discuss in How Do Treehumpers Prevent Pregnancy?

Read More Ecosexual Health News:
The Ins and Outs of Eco-Friendly Vaginal Lubrication

GM Foods Shrinking Reproductive Health in Womb Near You

Ecosexual Condom ‘Company Love Begins with L’ Empowering Third World Sexual Health

Kinsey Report Finds the Pill isn’t Making Her Feel Sexy

The post Teva Pharmacueticals’ Morning-After Pill Kept Locked Up by US Ruling appeared first on Green Prophet.

The idea is commendable – get contraception into the hands of those who want to prevent unwanted pregnancy but cannot afford or don’t have access to it. With all things environmental, however, the devil is in the details, and in the case of a newly launched website that intends to be conscious about contraception, a sweeping case of greenwashing may be putting chemicals into chemistry, instead of the other way around. Fortunately, as front runners for ecosex, we recommend better contraception options.

The company, Conscious Contraception calls itself a, “globally conscious organization delivering contraceptives directly to the consumer through the convenient and discreet online store.” They partner with US and international companies to promote sex education, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies.

They state that a portion of every purchase will be donated to purchase contraception for under-served communities in the United States and abroad. You can read their full mission statement here.

No specific mention is made of the Middle East region, though Greenprophet.com reported recently on a condom company that is focused on Africa, including MENA nations.

Whether or not they are able to “transform customers into benefactors” by setting up their site, some very real problems persist, less with the model, and more with the products sold.

For example, many makers of personal lubrication massage oils and body creams that are sold use ingredients in their products that can irritate the skin, particularly the delicate genital area.  In addition to irritation, petrobased chemicals in personal use products are associated with rash, fatigue, cutaneous skin lesions, internal lesions, nerve degeneration, thrush and candida infections, inflammation, and myalgia.  Some forms of glycerin can lead to yeast infections in women: vegetable-based glycerin is thought by some to be a better option.

Case in point: both Astroglide and KY Jelly brands manufacture and sell lubricants that contain petrochemicals including, but not exclusively or limited to Polyquaternium 15, methylparaben, and propylparaben, propylene glycol.

The Organic Consumers Organization lists ten synthetic chemicals to avoid in personal use, with explanations for why these are potentially harmful, noxious or toxic. Greenprophet.com has also reported on toxic products to avoid in The Ins and Outs of Eco-Friendly Vaginal Lubrication.

In that article, we wrote:

Compounds to avoid include, but are not limited to the following: Any benzene derivatives such as sodium benzoate, methyl, ethyl and propylparaben, and benzoate of soda. Boric acid, salicylates and cinnamic aldehyde (an ingredient used in ‘hot’ lubricants) are also problematic. For a more complete list, click here and here. These are often used as solvents or preservatives.

Other concerns include the types of condoms sold. While condoms are known to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (a good thing), it’s important to view their use through environmental lenses if we want to fully evaluate their ecosexual impact. What are they made of? Natural rubber latex that is naturally and sustainably harvested is a better choice than those made of artificial materials known to irritate vaginal tissue (unless someone has an allergy to latex).  Companies such as LoveBeginsWithL.com are working to provide better condoms, prophylactics that are manufactured to higher standards that do less to compromise the health of the planet and lovers alike.

Our bottom line ecosexual green assessment: No matter how many free products or educational resources they may provide, any website that calls itself conscious but sells products containing potentially harmful ingredients is potentially misleading consumers and the disadvantaged to think that the options are environmentally optimal.

In my opinion, there is nothing ecosexually more discouraging than companies who use environmental slogans to sell us products that do not help us make love more organically. A green collar economy requires businesses to consider all facets of the products and services sold. In the case of contraception, better options would be to at a minimum include products that are environmentally safe, sustainably harvested and prevent pregnancy without compromising health or sexual pleasure. Educational programs that provide information regarding the ecological impact of the products offered would be an additional value-added service.

For those who are interested in learning more about contraception from an eco-conscious point of view, we recommend reading How do Treehumpers Prevent Pregnancy? and Ecosex: Go Green Between the Sheets and Make Your Love Life Sustainable (2010), by Stefanie Iris Weiss.

Read More Ecosexual Health News:
The Ins and Outs of Eco-Friendly Vaginal Lubrication
GM Foods Shrinking Reproductive Health in Womb Near You
Ecosexual Condom ‘Company Love Begins with L’ Empowering Third World Sexual Health

Tinamarie is a regular contributor to Greenprophet.com. Follow her @ModernLoveMuse. She blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com. Photo via: dno1967b

The post Is Conscious Contraception Site Selling a Bag of Toxic Tricks? appeared first on Green Prophet.

In the western world couples who have trouble conceiving go to sperm banks when the male produces no viable sperm. And while these options are available in the Middle East, the more traditional male types here obviously fare better psychologically when the baby is born with his own blood, and DNA. But for men with a zero sperm count, or boys undergoing treatment for cancer, there were no other options – until now. An Arab scientist Prof. Mahmoud Huleihel from Ben Gurion University in Israel has developed an artificial testis in a test tube. It opens a world of possibilities for infertile men.

Taking sperm germ cells from a mouse testis, Huleihel and his team managed to generate live and functioning sperm from the unripened sperm cells. While another technique can cultivate sperm from sperm tubules (or parts of the sperm generating organ) demonstrated 6 months ago, Huleihel’s lab is the first to take germ cells to create sperm, opening the door for a simple, cost-effective treatments down the road.

With 7 billion people on our planet, we don’t necessarily advocate for more people on this crowded planet, but for male sexual health this new artificial testicle is a breakthrough. Especially since environmental pollution is a known factor contributing to male infertility and cancer in children. If you follow our ecological sexologist Tina-Marie, you’ll learn much about the effects of radiation and pollution on male sexual organs.

In his breakthrough Huleihel takes undifferentiated sperm, and adds them to a matrix and special solution he formulated in a test tube.

The findings are published online in the Asian Journal of Andrology, where Huleihel outlines the generation of spermatozoa from mouse testicular germ cells under in vitro culture.

“This study may open new therapeutic strategies for infertile men who cannot generate sperm and/or prepubertal cancer patients at risk of infertility due to aggressive chemo- or radiotherapy, and cannot cryopreserve sperm as in adult patients,” he says.

I spoke with him last week about future directions for humankind, and he says it could take about 5 or 10 years for the idea to be a commercial product – such is the way in biotech. Meanwhile he is continuing the experiments, in humans – on infertile men with a zero sperm count presenting themselves at IVF clinics, and on sperm germ cells from a young boy who underwent radiation treatment.

The above picture of an artificial testes is for illustrative purposes only.

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