FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Compelling Scientific Study on Lubricant Safety shows Good Clean Love at Top of Market

EUGENE, Oregon. February 26, 2013 (electronic release) – In an independent study published last year, Good Clean Love was found to be one of the safest personal lubricants on the market. [1]

“We have always strived to produce the most healing lubricant formulations for the most sensitive tissues in the body as part of our core mission at Good Clean Love because we believe that healthy intimacy is foundational to our well being and the glue for lasting relationships.” says company founder Wendy Strgar. “We have been educating people about the dangers of the petrochemical based products for a long time, this new scientific research demonstrates just how dangerous these widely used products can be.”

To understand why some personal lubricants can be safer than others, you have to understand the science of osmolality, which is how scientists describe the concentration of ingredients in a fluid.

The cells in your body are basically liquid-filled bags, and your body is good at keeping the osmolality of them stable, so when you put something reactive on your skin, your body tries to stabilize your cells against it. Instead of raising the concentration inside of the cells, your body releases fluids from them to dilute and wash off the foreign agent. When this happens, cells shrink and shrivel, which makes them more susceptible to damage. [2]

For fluids with a small difference in osmolality, there is a small change in fluids from the cells, but with those that are ten or even thirty times more concentrated, as can be found in many personal lubricants, cells can shrivel like raisins or even fall off completely. [3]

Even with a condom, STDs can still be spread. Condoms are only effective as a barrier to keep infections from spreading through direct contact, but there are multiple STDs that can be spread through sexual contact that is not covered by a condom. [4] Genital herpes, HPV and syphilis can all be transmitted without ejaculation, and their infections can live in cells at the base of the penis or thighs, areas that a condom can’t cover. Raw, damaged vaginal or rectal tissues, like those caused by the use of personal lubricants with artificial chemicals and additives, can provide a perfect transmission route for STDs.

In one study published in 2010 involving rodents, scientists at Johns Hopkins found a tenfold increase in herpes transmission when K-Y Warming Jelly was used when compared to rats where it was not used. [5] In another study published in 2012, recipients of anal intercourse who consistently used lubricant were found to have a higher occurrence of STDs than those who did not consistently use lubricant. [6]

Good Clean Love was shown to have “minimal impact” on the human body and “did not show loss of viability or epithelium,” which is the tissue that lines the vagina and rectum. [7] Good Clean Love has an osmolality almost identical to that of fluids in the human body. With only natural and organic ingredients, Good Clean love does not contain propolyene glycol, parabens or glycerin. [8]

About Good Clean Love

Always 100% cruelty free and recommended by healthcare professionals and sex therapists nationwide, Good Clean Love provides products that build lasting relationships, explore intimate connections and bring the fun back into love.

A woman-owned company headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, Good Clean Love is an approved Coop America Green Company and strives to reduce it’s impact while providing the highest quality ingredients and recyclable packaging materials available. All Good Clean Love products are manufactured in the USA and can be found in fine retailers like Fred Meyer, many natural food stores and pharmacies, including Whole Foods and Pharmaca, as well as many spas, gift shops and physicians offices.

Sexual health and product safety are the cornerstones of the Good Clean Love product mission. The company was created 10 years ago in response to my own personal need for intimacy products that were not made with petrochemicals and parabens. Over the years our formulations have matured into a product line that is easily tolerated by even the most sensitive tissue. We work to provide products that people with a wide range of issues, including cancer survivors, can use to enjoy the healing benefits of intimate pleasure. In fact, many of the medical professionals we work with who specialize in pelvic pain report that Good Clean Love is the one product that has a consistently high success rate among their patients dealing with a wide range of sensitivities and disease.

Recent scientific research that is being conducted nationally on the safety of personal lubricants is now providing the science behind our success. Researchers are now able to measure the osmolality of personal lubricants, which is the overall concentration of molecular ingredients in a product. The higher the osmolality of the lubricant the more likely that it will cause epithelial cell damage because of simple physics; the weight of the molecules causes the cells there to shrivel up and come off, which weaken the body’s defenses. For instance, K-Y Warming Jelly, which has an osmolality more than 30 times the body’s own fluid, was found to increase herpes transmission more than nine fold in rodents, when compared with rodents not administered lubricant. Whereas Good Clean Love’s osmolality is so close to the tissue of the human body, that it was found to not damage the tissue samples or boost HIV infection rates.

We have long been a donating supporter to HIV prevention groups and other healing efforts. Patients of our local HIV Alliance fared so much better with our products than with conventional lubricants that they acted to include us in these studies. It was within this context that our product was introduced to the research team.

But you don’t have to have HIV or post-cancer symptoms to benefit from the natural and organic ingredient-base of Good Clean Love lubricants. Millions of people who suffer from dryness from medications, illness or aging are more likely to be adversely affected by the petrochemical ingredients found in 95% of conventional lubricants. The cell damage that the scientists are documenting creates its own visceral response, which is commonly pain, itching and burning with the use of these products.

These symptoms cause the premature ending of many workable sexual relationships. Most people listen to their doctors who tell them to use a lubricant and assume that the symptoms they are having in response to the ingredients verify their intractable sexual problems. No one has ever told them that it is the ingredients in these products that are making people sick. Dr. Richard Cone, of John’s Hopkins University was quoted as saying on the basis of his own research, “Virtually all sex lubricants need to be reformulated.” I guess he hasn’t tried Good Clean Love yet, but not to worry Dr. Cone, it’s on the way.

I have been standing on this ingredient soap box for close to a decade and have educated tens of thousands of medical providers and customers on the critical need to use safe, healthy ingredients for the most sensitive tissue in the body. How gratifying for science to catch up to me and put me on their chart. Lubricants are designed to heal the most intimate connection we have to another human being. That’s why we call ours Good Clean Love.

-Wendy Strgar, Loveologist & Found, Good Clean Love

Friday, Good Clean Love will launch the new Good Clean Love website that reflects exciting new packaging changes.

Lubricants now feature bilingual (French/English) packaging, plus a color square to help differentiate the flavors.  The Love Oils have moved to a sleek modern aluminum bottle design with a pump. Finally, the Body Candies also get new transparent labels with color coding for each flavor.

Good Clean Love is an approved Coop America Green Company, located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Good Clean Love strives to reduce its impact while providing the highest quality ingredients and recyclable packaging materials available. The company is also a supporter of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and is continuously working to educate women, physicians and retail stores about the importance of clean and healthy ingredients in love products. They provide samples to college campuses, doctor’s offices and cancer treatment centers.

Wendy Strgar is the founder of Good Clean Love, Inc. and the manufacturer of all natural love and intimacy products. She has been married for 28 years and has four children. Wendy teaches about Making Love Sustainable, a philosophy of relationships, which recognizes the importance of valuing the renewable resources of love.

Good Clean Love will continue to offer love advice on the sister site still entitled Good Clean Love Daily at www.daily.goodcleanlove.com Visible icons will direct visitors between the two sites.

Good Clean Love founder Wendy Strgar will host Love that Works: A Series for Patients and Partners, a free, six-week series on how to reconnect, repair and strengthen your bond during and after cancer. The series begins Tuesday, June 5^{TH from}1-2 30 PM and will be through July 10th at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute. Pre-registration is required.

This series will examine the power of positive-thinking, meditation tools, communication that works, body changes related to cancer treatment, and explore sexuality to rediscover intimacy and your erotic self.

A pre-course questionnaire is available from your oncologist, receptionist or social worker and care manager. Please complete it and return by May 25. For additional information, contact Rosie Starks at 541-681-4949.

December 2011

September 2011

Fall 2011

Good Clean Love founder Wendy Strgar will debut her interactive workshop Love That Works: Developing an Ecology of Love and Unlocking the Mystery of Transformative Intimacy at this year’s Bioneers conference October 14th-16th, 2011 in San Rafael, California.

This experiential workshop explores the art of love through practices that nourish the aspects of intimacy that make love, passion and intimacy thrive. Preregistrations for the workshop have exceeded expectations so much that it was moved from a meeting room to the main auditorium. Attendance is expected to top 500 participants. The workshop will be held October 16th from 4 30-6PM on the main stage.

The Love That Works workshop is based on Wendy’s recently published book Love That Works: A Guide to Enduring Intimacy. A combination of short stories, memoir, and advice from her popular column Making Love Sustainable, critics have called it the “essential relationship guidebook.” The book will be available for sale throughout the conference.

Strgar founded Good Clean Love in order to put organic intimacy products on the market. Her popular column, Making Love Sustainable, is widely read and she is also the resident Love and Relationshiop expert on such sites as Huffington Post and Care2.com. Her writing stems from her “laboratory of love-” her home. Married for 27 years with four children ages 13-23, she believes that each day is an opportunity to learn to love those around you.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Strgar says, “speaking to all these people who are interested in improving their love lives at this wonderful venue. I’m looking forward to it.”

About Bioneers
Founded in 1990, the Bioneers conference has created a space for the leading social and scientific innovators who have solutions for the world’s environmental and social challenges. Annually, Bioneers draws thousands of people interested in sustainable world solutions. For more information, please visit www.bioneers.org.

About Good Clean Love
Founded in 2003, Good Clean Love produces the finest all-natural, organic intimacy products with no petrochemicals or parabens. Good Clean Love also provides educational resources about sustainable relationships, sex and intimacy. For more information, please visit www.goodcleanlove.com and daily.goodcleanlove.com.

PORTLAND, ORE– Good Clean Love, Inc. received the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s prestigious annual Tom Holce Entrepreneurship award in the Development category last night. Good Clean Love’s founder and CEO Wendy Strgar received the award at a ceremony at downtown Portland’s Hilton Hotel in front of an audience of nearly 800 guests.

For the win, Good Clean Love will receive exclusive coverage on the OEN website and the Portland Business Journal. Runners up in the Development stage category included Expressive Labels, Inc. and Gamma Therapeutics, Inc. The ceremony also recognized the top company in three other growth stages, including, Working Capital Stage, Growth Stage and Individual Achievement.

Strgar’s acceptance speech honored the business community for its support. “Winning the Tom Holce award is both an honor and responsibility to his legacy, which was one of profound generosity and wisdom. At Good Clean Love, we are proud to walk in Tom’s footsteps and be an entrepreneurial force for loving.”

Good Clean Love was one of more than 700 businesses throughout Oregon and southwestern Washington to participate based upon the companies’ various achievements and backgrounds. In the preliminary round, Strgar gave a 15-minute presentation, during which committee members asked questions clarifying points about the company’s mission and direction.

The Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards originated in 1993. Named after entrepreneur and angel investor Tom Holce, the awards ceremony recognizes companies that provide jobs, help the economy and have faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to growth and success.

Founded in 1991, the OEN is the largest entrepreneur assistance program in the state of Oregon. OEN’s mission is to provide support activities and mentoring to the entrepreneurial community to foster business growth and employment opportunities in Oregon. The OEN celebrated its 20th anniversary at this year’s awards ceremony.

Good Clean Love is a sexual health company whose mission is enhancing the awareness and experience of love in the world. Since 2003, Good Clean Love has been producing the finest all-natural and organic intimacy products, as well as excellent educational resources on sexual health and sustaining relationships.

Press Contact: Anastasia Strgar
ana@goodcleanlove.com
541.344.4483

Eugene, ORE– Good Clean Love’s Making Love Sustainable blog is the winner of the 2011 Intent.com web awards for the Best Sex and Relationships blog.

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