The Future Blood Farm
The latest fury of menstrual stem cell hype and its possible repercussions
Picture this scenario:
A nine year-old girl notices dark brown spots on the crotch of her panties. She has no solid reference point for understanding what might be occurring. If her public school offers sex education, her grade level curriculum has likely not included a thorough discussion of menstruation. She is younger than the average age of menarche (the onset of first menstruation, typically occurring around age 12). Her parents (or government) have limited her internet and social media use.1 When she uses the toilet, she notices pale blood streaks on the toilet paper. She goes to her parents (mother, probably) seeking answers and reassurance.
Picture this simultaneous scenario:
Social media is exploding with viral memes about the wonder of menstrual stem cells, via splashy red and pink imagery, or videos showing women wearing lab coats and appearing to do some kind of lab work (so they must be authorities on the matter!), or jazzed up profile photos of so-called “leaders” in the field of menstrual stem cell research who are offering to buy period blood.2 The content is presented as miraculous, life-saving, already happening! It’s the answer to the medical industry’s prayers for a more accessible stem cell supply! This scenario is very real, right now.
Discussions in comment feeds on various posts about menstrual stem cells range from righteous declarations of how “women are magic!” and “they should be paying us!” to unhinged suggestions about rubbing on menstrual fluid as an anti-aging face mask, drinking it for vitality, or one comment that absolutely fucking undid me: a so-called “protocol” of mixing menstrual blood with fresh urine and using it as an enema for anti-aging effects since supposedly all the stem cell properties and proteins will be absorbed through the colon. I kid you not. It’s the wild west out there.
I am tagged in these posts constantly, by people who know of my research with using my own menstrual cells. And, I have started creating some of my own posts in attempts to debunk the bizarre shit I see circulating. Before I address my interactions with these posts, let me first discuss my research conduct, after which I will then circle back to my initial scenario of the young girl experiencing menarche.
Firstly, I am my own “supplier.” I have never worked with another person’s menstrual fluid. There are very clear reasons for this, scientifically-speaking: a) I know my own medical history, and whether or not I harbour sexually transmitted or blood-borne viruses (including HPV), which vaccines I have had against said blood-borne diseases, and what medications I may be taking. Hormonal birth control, for example, can affect cell characteristics. The vaginal microbiome likewise enters into the cell culture dish; b) I also know my own cycle and when I can reasonably expect to collect new samples of cells, to line up my lab time, materials and workflow, and technical and infrastructural support accordingly. It’s not a trivial process. Menstrual stem cells need to ideally be collected and cultured within the first two days of flow.
THE LABORIOUS PROCESS OF ACQUIRING MENSTRUAL STEM CELLS
Because there is so little information (both lay info and scientific method) on how menstrual stem cell collection and use works, let me explain a bit about the intensely laborious process of how one actually acquires a stem cell and prepares it (or them, usually in the millions) for research experiments and cryopreservation (banking). It’s not a pay to play procedure the way some would-be menstrual stem cell “suppliers” and talking heads seem to want people to believe. I have a collection method that I’ve developed over several years — you don’t simply dump a menstrual cup into a petri dish and there you have it (though I’ve done that). I wrote about part of my method in two peer-reviewed journal articles, published in 2020 and again in 2023.3 I had fun with it, but not to obscure the long hours of lab work that follow.
Yes, acquiring menstrual stem cells is physiologically non-invasive compared to other stem cell acquisition methods, such as with bone marrow. Easier to obtain samples do not mean it’s a hop, skip, and a jump straight to (unapproved) injection therapies that are supposedly going to save lives. There is a whole sequence of lengthy, technologically mediated and rigorous steps to even get to that possibility. Menstrual stem cell acquisition does advance the idea of more research possibilities, which may, at some point, unlock clues to diseases that plague people with uteruses. It also has potential for tissue repair, which some researchers are still studying. The more research, the better, in my opinion—that’s why the fuck I started doing it in the first place, sweating through all of the approvals processes, after all. But let me tell you, it wasn’t for profits. It was for a PhD (and now a postdoc).
Menstrual fluid starts out as a crude substance, let’s say, in terms of its usability in the lab. I don’t mean to make any analogies to the oil industry here, but rather to point out that it contains constituents that need to be separated and/or filtered out. Menstrual ‘blood’, more aptly identified as fluid, is full of red blood cells, and contains blood serum or plasma (two slightly different results of separating out the clear, watery proteinaceous substance), along with a heterogeneous mix of cells that include various types of fibroblastic, endothelial, stromal and stem cells.4 You probably didn’t know that and may not even have heard of those different cell types unless you’ve studied cell biology or practice tissue culture. These various and assorted cells are embedded in a tissue and mucus layer, which becomes apparent after the samples are centrifuged and the components are separated out into distinct layers.
When I collect my menstrual fluid for lab use, I process it in this way, extracting cells from the tissue and mucus layer, diluting this still-crude (called “primary sourced”) substance into a soup of nutrients, proteins, typically an antibiotic blend of streptomycin and penicillin, and then incubate it for a bit. Then, I wash the cells with a phosphate solution to get rid of the remaining red blood cells before adding fresh nutrient fluid. And then incubate them longer, like a week or two. So, the cells are not the same thing as the blood—they are from tissue fragments that grow. We actually have no use for the red blood cells in cell culture. I’ve tested the serum for usability and it has interesting implications which I have written about, again in a peer-reviewed journal article (and in my thesis). My explorations with that aren’t done.
After culturing flasks of cells, they have to be determined to be ACTUAL stem cells, through a process called cell characterization. This is exceedingly expensive and requires a suite of large machinery. There is a four-ish hour process to first stain the cells with antibodies, a bunch of different types of antibodies that are specific to different cell types, to see which will be flagged by the lasers in the machinery. This is called flow cytometry, and when I’ve done it in the past with my cells, there approximately 50% stem cells in the total mix. This is further refinement, technically called cell purification. I don’t love that terminology, but that’s how it is labelled in lab life. The flow cytometry stresses the cells, since they are actually counted one by one, passing through a laser beam. After this stress, some die. The cell population has been further whittled down. They are then put back into flasks in nutrient solution to proliferate some more. After a sufficient quantity is grown, they are put through an enzyme dissolution process which further stresses them out, and then put into cryopreservation chemicals which are cytotoxic but prevent them from being destroyed by ice crystals — a bit like antifreeze, but it is called dimethyl sulfoxide. A small percentage is used, the cells are frozen at a quantity of about 1.5-2M cells per 1.5mL cryovial, and between freezing and revivification, 10-30% of them will die. This process is repeated over and over in experiment cycles, until the cells reach their expiry limit, which is called the Hayflick limit (after the dude who discovered that they don’t live forever). These primary sourced cells are not immortalized cell lines that are typically used in lab experiments, so there is a definite limit to how many times they can be used. They aren’t an infinite miracle, as some believe, and there is not anywhere near enough research done with these cells types to apply them to human clinical therapies. That is pure marketing hype at this point.
A lot of people on social media are discussing a study done by Jemma Evans (et al.)5 in Australia, that was of course a main research reference in my work. The implications of this research are really cool, but of course, more research is needed because experimental knowledge advances in increments over a long period of time. However, it’s been incorrectly read, pumped out through viral memes as “menstrual blood heals wounds 40x faster!” without actually synthesizing the info in the paper. Lest anyone think rubbing menstrual blood on an open wound is some kind of magic bandage that will seal it up and there you go, let me clarify: Evans used plasma. Not the unprocessed blood. Remember, the blood cell component of menstrual fluid is not usable for this purpose. She (they, the team) processed plasma. It would have been sterile-filtered to remove bacteria (a terribly laborious process, I can tell you); I’m sure her methods are better detailed in the paper (it’s been about seven years since I read it)—which nobody on social media has actually bothered to really read and understand. Rubbing menstrual blood on an open wound can lead to infection. I don’t recommend it. I also don’t recommend drinking it, rubbing it on your face, or using it as an enema.
A lot of people also extrapolate this regenerative potential of menstrual fluid to talk about how great menstrual blood is for growing plants. In fact, certain plants do thrive on an agricultural product called bloodmeal, but guess what bloodmeal also does? It attracts rats. I know this from the wizened experiential knowledge of my father, who has been producing amazing soil for his off-grid farm on Maui for forty-ish years. In my discussion with him about his soil protocols, I asked about using blood in soil, for plants. We’ve all heard the mythopoetic tales of menstruating women gathering on the full moon or seasonally or whenever to bless the crop fields in the days of yore. This is romanticized bullshit, sorry not sorry. Many years ago (ten, to be precise), I wrote about blood as plant nutrient as part of my work in Iceland, and its site-specific mythopoesis.6 Anyway, my dad’s been there, done that, tried it (using bloodmeal), didn’t like it… because, rats showed up. So, if you think wild rats are cute and you want them and the pathogens they potentially carry, sure, dump your cup on your plants. But, I digress. This isn’t the blood farm I’m referring to in the title of my post. Let me get into it.
THE FUTURE BLOOD FARM
Just LAST YEAR, the country of Georgia made international news for a human egg farm bust.7 Thai women had been trafficked and held hostage for their eggs, which there is a huge market for in reproductive technology circles, like IVF clinics. Let me just say here that not all IVF clinics are the same: some are operating under strict ethical guidelines, while others are much more shady. We’ve all heard stories (or seen Netflix docs).8 The whole organ and tissue market is fraught with corrupt players, the financial incentives drawing in participants from across all strata of society. The most accessible information I’ve read about this phenomenon is in a book called The Red Market by Scott Carney. I refer people to this book over and over again, when they are either unaware or inquisitive about the underbelly of tissue and organ trade. Importantly, Carney elucidates the reader to the harsh realities of how underprivileged people, particularly women of colour or those experiencing systemic economic hardship, are victimized the most in the organ trade. He discusses how poor Indian women, in particular, are highly vulnerable to having organs removed in desperation, sold to scammy middlemen working within the tissue trade, in order to feed their families. The egg farm example is just the latest. In these instances, desperate people (let’s face it, women with little economic means and heavy burdens of care for family members) are exploited for their living tissues: kidneys, eggs… and…
Now, with lip-smacking startups in rapid development, offering cash for period blood, there is the potential for this to occur in the case of menstruating women (and others who menstruate—let’s be inclusive here), and their monthly caché of stem cells. Already, irresponsible conventional media and social media channels are framing this research resource as a “gold mine”, using extractive terminology linked to industrial capitalism. The scenario I presented at the beginning of my post is one possible avenue for exploitation—a lack of information and knowledge leads to vulnerability and creates a window for opportunists. Imagine a nine year-old obscurely forced to collect her menstrual blood for someone else to sell and make money from her body. We want to believe that parents are always fiercely protective of their children and don’t let bad things happen. Most often, that is likely the case. However, for whatever reasons, whether based on desperation, bad judgment, systemic violence, or other more sinister condition, people do get exploited by other people. Or they are forced into exploitative circumstances. I don’t think I need to paint a more detailed picture of the most extreme scenario to convey the idea: creating a premature demand for menstrual stem cells through commercial marketing hype, perpetuated by startup culture, has the very real potential to harm people downstream.
Let me take this a step further now: think back for one moment to the bizarre narratives that were circulating during the height of COVID-19. I’m talking about the notion of self-appointed “pure bloods” who’d rejected mRNA vaccination and therefore somehow comprised a socially and biologically elite group. We’ve heard of “pure blood” social constructs before in human history. It’s based on supremacist ideologies, which are prolific online, sorting people into the biologically ‘better’ and hence more valuable. These ideologies often intersect with right wing beliefs rooted in bastardized spirituality, that ascribe morality to a sociobiological base. I’m referring now to purity narratives around women’s sexuality and the idolization of virginity. It shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to understand a probable emergence of an absurd conflation of poorly understood biotechnology with puritan concepts to see a produced demand for virgin menstrual blood as the “pure blood” biotech gold edition—at a higher asking price. Just imagine those stem cells! Untainted by intercourse, pristine in their cellular moral dignity! This is, sadly, not as far fetched as it may seem. We still have countries in the world that believe that sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS. My intention with portraying these scenarios is so that critical discussion happens well in advance of potential harms. I want people aware of how this field, my field of research, can go sideways fast, thanks to technocapitalist accelerationism.
I see many people arguing on social media that it’s good that research about women’s bodies is getting so much attention finally, so therefore these startups must be a good thing. While there are certainly benefits to increased public discourse, the shaping of that discourse through capitalist interests is highly problematic (for the reasons I just gave). The attention should be on the actual researchers doing the work with menstrual stem cells, not the talking heads trying to build a market for their investors.
Happy World Menstrual Health Day! Stay sharp.
This post was composed entirely by my own brain, with no AI assistance. If you value my human intellectual labour and the care I put in to my research, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. There may be errors in my writing, and I’m just going to leave them there as validation of my humanness.
If you want further reading, you can read an excerpt of my most recent chapter, published by Makery, called Wet Witches and Rewilded Biotech (short title), here: https://www.makery.info/en/2026/05/25/english-wet-witches-and-rewilded-biotech/
As with this year’s social media ban for teens under 16 in Australia: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyp9d3ddqyo
Our friend, Alice (a.k.a. Ditto Daily, with 125k followers) is at it again, promoting misleading content about menstrual stem cell research, using proximity to credible menstrual stem cell researchers to boost her viral following and build a market for her “cycle supplement”, as well as to promote yet another half-baked startup company that I had the misfortune of being involved with in its early stages before pulling out due to distinct ethical concerns and IP infringement of my work. I will also note here that Ditto (Alice) changed the post after I commented on it to call out the ludicrousness of conflating an untrained entrepreneur with legit researchers and asking how much she got paid to post that ad (because I’m sure there’s no way it wasn’t a paid ad by said half-baked startup company looking to build their profile).
I previously addressed this particular social media profile and its deliberately misleading content, here:
Find the articles here: https://doi.org/10.1386/tear_00039_1 and https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2231666 - if you have trouble accessing the articles and want to read them, reach out. I’m happy to send a PDF.
This is an excellent paper that goes into great detail about all of the components and cell types found in menstrual fluid: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/reproductive-health/articles/10.3389/frph.2021.779979/full
Paper link here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30036086/
You can read that research blog (full of images) here: https://icelandna.wordpress.com/ Related side note: I have been blogging about my work since before blogs were a thing, and have been using blood in my practice for over 25 years.
I forever admire your clarity of language and the way you contextualise these complex notions. Some of these scenarios are chilling to say the least.
Thanks for the critical take and valuable information. It needs to be widely disseminated and considered. There are increasingly scamy therapeutical promises being made by shady types who lack relevant research background and/or scruples, and who create risks for exploitation. We must not feed into this demand.