Gloop - "a dark fairytale that follows the meteoric rise of plastic from its inception in Leo’s gloomy laboratory 100 years ago".

A Bee Productions film brought to our attention by the brilliant London-based
Eco Tales.

400 women make their privates public, courtesty of British artist Jamie McCartney

Brighton-based artist Jamie McCartney has created a 9 metre long polyptych consisting of four hundred plaster casts of vulvas, ranging from 18 to 76 year olds and including mothers and daughters, identical twins, transgendered men and women as well as a woman pre and post natal and pre and post labiaplasty. Jamie says “For many women their genital appearance is a source of anxiety and I was in a unique position to do something about that.” To read more about the project, go to
The Great Wall of Vagina website

Many women have reported adverse allergic reactions to the synthetic ingredients, fragrances and plastics in disposable sanitary products, and to new cover sheets used in sanitary towels.

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, two of the most common contact allergens are preservatives and fragrance.
Women’s Environmental Network 'Seeing Red' Report 2012

Menstruation affects the entire endocrine system, as well as cardiovascular health and bone strength.

"Historic experience of manipulation of women’s menstrual cycles and hormones resulting in adverse health effects should stand as a warning. The long-term health implications of manipulating natural hormone levels in this way remain to be seen.".
Women’s Environmental Network 'Seeing Red' Report 2012

In the UK alone, we buy more than 3 billion items of 'menstrual lingerie' every year

"Disposable menstrual lingerie is widely seen as a significant factor in women’s liberation, yet the language and imagery often used in media and adverts to express that liberation serves to reinforce the culture of silence. The disposables industry reinforces notions that discretion and ‘freshness’ are key, and that odour is a problem, through the products they develop and the way they advertise them".
Women’s Environmental Network 'Seeing Red' Report 2012

During the 2010 International Coastal Cleanup, 24,607 tampons and applicators were found on our world's beaches

International Coastal Cleanup Report 2010

The average woman throws away 125 to 150kg of tampons, pads and applicators in her lifetime

Women’s Environmental Network 'Seeing Red' Report 2012

In the UK, the use of tampons, pads and applicators generates more than 200,000 tonnes of waste per year

Women’s Environmental Network 'Seeing Red' Report 2012

'Intimate wipes' - on the way out?

According to a July 2011 Euromonitor report, the market in intimate wipes saw a huge decline in growth in 2010: slumping to 2% from 15% growth in 2009. According to Euromonitor: "The fad of intimate wipes has waned, as more women consider intimate wipes to be an unnecessary purchase". We think this is great news for women's health and the environment, but wonder whether big business - in the search for new markets - will turn to making men paranoid about their natural odours instead?

All-female comedy rock sensation The Balconettes with a little lament that some of you may recognise...

Balconette Helen Arney explains:
"When we wrote this song, none of us were mooncup users. I suppose you could say we were mooncup curious. We just loved harmonising such a musical word. But it also tackles a subject that is virtually taboo in regular comedy clubs, and what's the point of being in a comedy girlband if you can't do that AND make both sexes in the audience roar with laughter at the same time?
As we've performed it to different audiences, it's been brilliant to see the reactions from people. There's laughter of recognition from most of the women and a lot of of the men, but there's always a few guys who really don't know what a mooncup is. It's fascinating to watch their faces change during the song as they try to imagine what it might be... We were careful not to be too descriptive - we've tried to retain an air of mooncup mystery!
Since we started gigging together, one Balconette has become a mooncup user. The thought of losing it is now genuinely traumatic but it's highly unlikely to happen in any of the ways we sing about. At least, that's what we hope..."

The clitoris has 8,000 nerve endings, twice as many as in the penis!

Brilliant, wry mockumentary about 'the majestic plastic bag', narrated by Jeremy Irons

One in 10 British women are unaware that the menopause is a naturally occurring event

Some British women are in denial when it comes to the menopause, according to results of a new survey. They are also failing to recognise the discreet early symptoms leading to a possible delay in seeking essential advice and treatment.
The survey reveals that a staggering one in 10 women are unaware that the menopause is a naturally occurring event affecting all women as they enter midlife. Of those, a surprising 70% thought that the menopause was genetic and almost 10% thought it occurred as a result of general ill health.
Read the article from Nursing in Practice Magazine in full here

On 24 October, people in 181 countries came together through the '350 project' to unite and demonstrate on climate change

Brilliant online TV programme describes one woman's experience of the menstrual cup learning curve

The word "menstruation" is etymologically related to "moon"...

The words "menstruation" and "menses" come from the Latin for month -"mensis" - which in turn relates to the Greek word for moon - "mene", and to the roots of the English words month and moon.

EVERY DAY in the UK, 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 sanitary towels and 700,000 panty liners are flushed into our sewage system

This mind-blowing statistic, and many others, can be seen in context in the excellent Channel 4 programme 'The Human Footprint'

"Every year, in Britain alone, we would need to dig a hole 300 feet wide and 300 feet deep to bury the used sanitary pads and tampons that women throw away"

Courtesy of the Natural Collection www.thenaturalcollection.com

Corn-based plastic substitutes - new solution or new problem?

Research into the rapidly-growing 'bio-plastics' market reveals these new materials bring problems of their own. At the time this article was published, Mooncup Ltd was considering making new Mooncup containers out of bio-plastic. This article changed our minds.

The "Toxic Shock Syndrome Information Service" (TSSIS) is funded and supported by Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Kimberly-Clark Ltd., Lil-lets, Ontex Retail Ltd., Playtex Products Inc., Procter & Gamble UK and Toiletry Sales Ltd.

The UK sanitary protection market is worth in excess of £267 million.

As a Mooncup user, you can spend your money on something else!

Advertising sanitary protection on TV in the UK was forbidden until 1988.

There is six times more plastic than plankton in the Pacific Ocean

Tampons absorb 65% menstrual fluid and 35% natural moisture, creating imbalances in the moisture and pH levels of the vagina

Dioxin, produced during tampon manufacture, is the most toxic man-made substance known to science.

Rayon, one of the main ingredients in tampons, is highly absorbent and usually chlorine-bleached (one of the main dioxin-producing processes). Since 1918 it has been known that toxins can be absorbed into the body through the vagina.

Award-winning local artist Lou McCurdy first caught our eye at Mooncup with her exhibition “More Plastic than Plankton”.

Every piece of art that Lou exhibits is composed of plastic waste gathered along the Sussex coastline. Her work is beautiful and devastating in its permanence. Chloe Hanks, meanwhile, is a graphic designer and founder of Plastic Bag Free Brighton. In 2008, Mooncup worked together with Chloe and Lou to present a screening of the documentary Message In the Waves: a beautifully shot film about waste in the Hawaiian seas with a universal message.

So when we got the chance to work again with Lou and Chloe in 2009, we snapped it up. This time it would be to sponsor their “Dirty Beach” environmental art exhibition during the Brighton Fringe Festival.

Set in the busy Brighton North Laines, “Dirty Beach” would display Lou’s big colourful panels of plastic debris alongside photographs of Chloe’s eco-graffiti, which ranges from writing on the dirt of vans to making protest slogans in the snow. With our sponsorship, Dirty Beach was set up with the publicity materials, reusable Fairtrade organic cotton Dirty Beach bags, and tshirts it needed to make waves.

You can find out more about the Dirty Beach project, and catch up with Lou and Chloe's blogs here

Households in the UK throw away almost 30 million tonnes of rubbish every year

Most of this rubbish will end up in landfill.

The brilliant 'Story of Stuff' tops 7 million viewers

Find out about the origins and results of consumption, from extraction to disposal, and how to make things better - watch the Story of Stuff

Vaginal plastic surgery is the fastest-growing cosmetic procedure in the UK

A 2008 UK TV documentary entitled 'The Perfect Vagina' explored this phenomen in-depth. You can read more about the programme and its findings here

Is your period a luxury? We still pay VAT on sanitary products!

Women are obliged to pay VAT every time they buy sanitary protection. Although this was reduced to 5% in January 2001, when men's razors, nappies and the rate of VAT for sanitary protection products was lowered to a “reduced rate” of 5%, in line with EU restrictions.

Over 12 BILLION pads and tampons are USED ONCE and disposed of annually.