where science and ethics intersect with politics
In the 1840s, an enslaved teenager named Anarcha endured repeated surgical experimentation that helped shape early American gynecology. Her name was nearly erased from the record. This is the story of the girl behind the breakthrough — and the ethical reckoning her history demands.
When trace metals were detected in tampons, panic wasn’t the real problem — policy failure was. The viral reaction exposed a deeper truth: menstrual products used inside the body for thousands of hours over a lifetime remain under-regulated, under-researched, and insufficiently transparent.
The Humane Herald 