Two science startup dudes introduced a new product idea this week: a probiotic supplement that will make women's vaginas smell like peaches.
Austin Heinz and Gilad Gome, the founders of biotech startups Cambrian Genomics and Personalized Probiotics respectively, previewed their plans for a line of customer-specific probiotics, including the "Sweet Peach," at the Nov. 19 DEMO conference. The probiotic is designed to prevent yeast infections and UTIs, but will also make women's genitals smell like ripe fruit.
"The idea is personal empowerment," Heinz said during the presentation, according to Inc.'s Jeff Bercovici. "All your smells are not human. They're produced by the creatures that live on you."
Initial reactions to "Sweet Peach," which the pair hope to crowdfund using Tilt, have been negative. Nitasha Tiku at ValleyWag called the proposal a "waste of science," Selena Larson at Daily Dot found it "completely outrageous," and Maria Aspan wrote in a piece for Inc., "can they please keep their peachy bullshit far, far away from my uterus?"
In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Heinz said that the idea was inspired by their friends' and girlfriends' recurring issues with UTIs and yeast infections.
"We have no intentions of making all women's vaginas smell like peaches," he told HuffPost. "The idea is to pair DNA sequencing with DNA synthesis so that we can sequence microbiomes and then write personalized solutions for people."
It's unclear why one of these solutions is "correcting" women's natural odors -- and essentially creating yet another reason for women to feel bad about their bodies -- but Heinz is unconcerned about the negative backlash thus far.
"Usually the first wave of press around something is pretty unsavory," he told HuffPost. "And then people find the science behind it."
Austin Heinz and Gilad Gome, the founders of biotech startups Cambrian Genomics and Personalized Probiotics respectively, previewed their plans for a line of customer-specific probiotics, including the "Sweet Peach," at the Nov. 19 DEMO conference. The probiotic is designed to prevent yeast infections and UTIs, but will also make women's genitals smell like ripe fruit.
"The idea is personal empowerment," Heinz said during the presentation, according to Inc.'s Jeff Bercovici. "All your smells are not human. They're produced by the creatures that live on you."
Initial reactions to "Sweet Peach," which the pair hope to crowdfund using Tilt, have been negative. Nitasha Tiku at ValleyWag called the proposal a "waste of science," Selena Larson at Daily Dot found it "completely outrageous," and Maria Aspan wrote in a piece for Inc., "can they please keep their peachy bullshit far, far away from my uterus?"
In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Heinz said that the idea was inspired by their friends' and girlfriends' recurring issues with UTIs and yeast infections.
"We have no intentions of making all women's vaginas smell like peaches," he told HuffPost. "The idea is to pair DNA sequencing with DNA synthesis so that we can sequence microbiomes and then write personalized solutions for people."
It's unclear why one of these solutions is "correcting" women's natural odors -- and essentially creating yet another reason for women to feel bad about their bodies -- but Heinz is unconcerned about the negative backlash thus far.
"Usually the first wave of press around something is pretty unsavory," he told HuffPost. "And then people find the science behind it."