[Sir_Vival]

Not so fun fact - the medication HCG is derived from human urine and can possibly pass CJD on. There is no warning on the label, and since CJD takes 20-30 years to kill you once infected we don't really know yet if it's a problem or not.

And I took it for years.

[scottlocklin]

Somehow I had assumed such things were produced using recombinant DNA, but I guess only one brand does it this way.

I'm kind of mind boggled at the concept of pregnant women selling their urine to medical companies. How does this work?

[mftrhu]

Both Progynon and Emmenin, the first forms of estrogen used (1928-29), were extracted from the urine of pregnant women. The material for Progynon was initially collected in a Berlin's clinic by Shering [1], and the urine needed for Emmenin was presumably sourced through similar channels. [2] mentions how the supply was scarce, as only women in low-income groups were interested in collecting it, and only while other sources of income were not available.

By 1941-1942 they had moved away from human urine to PREgnant MARe urINe, and Premarin was born.

[1] https://books.google.it/books?id=Z3iTsU6_mHsC&pg=PA119&redir...

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1661006/?page=2

[philjohn]

Similar and just as scary - tainted blood products taken by haemophiliacs leading to countless HIV infections, and plenty of deaths from AIDS.

[LyndsySimon]

We also seem to be coming to the realization in the last few years that HPV is likely spread through the sterilization and re-use of gynecological equipment.

[philjohn]

Prion diseases as well - they can survive an autoclave.