Sex is risky. Any sort of sexual, intimate contact with anyone may expose you to syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, genital warts, parasites, HIV, hepatitis, yeast, colds, flu, grumpiness, bad smells, nose picking, fungal infections, domestic discord and that greatly feared and unconquered syndrome: LOVE. Your risk of exposure varies with what you do, how you do it, how often you do it, and how hard!

But we aren't going to cover all of that. You can ask your health professional or a professional at the Fenway Community Health Center (617-927-6000) for answers on those great issues. We are only going to talk about health as it relates to piss. Specifically, piss consumption (that is, drinking it), because pissing on skin or clothes is, like, totally harmless unless you keep the wet clothes on so long you get diaper rash. If you do get diaper rash any drug store has a nice selection of products to help you with that.

Diseases

HIV/AIDS: Not a risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. Here's what the San Francisco AIDS Foundation says
"Transmission can only occur when a sufficient amount of HIV enters the bloodstream, through cuts or mucous membranes. These 'bodily fluids' either contain no HIV or it exists in a quantity too small to result in transmission."
They're talking about urine, sweat, saliva and shit.

In 1989 The Journal of Infectious Diseases published the findings of a study that concluded "Our findings indicate that urine from HIV-1-seropositive individuals is unlikely to contain infectious HIV-1. This would imply that the risk of transmission of HIV-1 by urine is low to nonexistent." You can read the complete study here.

Here is a genuine, unsolicited personal testimonial that showed up on a watersports mailing list in May 2000 in response to a question about the safety of drinking piss. It is used with permission:

Subject: Re: GWS: OK...seriously....I have a question about safety
Date: Thu, 04 May 2000 21:34:34 -0400

I have been drinking loads of piss from loads of guys. I think there are people on this list who will confirm that I will drink piss from ANYone (unless you've been drinking that nasty diet soda shit). I've drunk gallons here in Boston, in New York, at Wet N Hot in Palm Springs, certainly in Washington, also in Chicago, even Kansas City (that was me on the floor of the Dixie Belle), and at San Francisco's Blow Buddies. Big time drinker from every sort of guy you'd ever meet. I know for a fact that I've drunk it from HIV positive men, some of whom have told me they have high viral loads. And I've been doing this for years.

Just got my results back today, ironically, and still HIV negative after all those gallons. I think it's safe.

Hepatitis:
Here's a link to the CDC index for info on Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E

Hepatitis A: Not a risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. Here are the facts according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Click on this graphic from the CDC to see a simple and clear comparison of the risks of Hepatitis A from urine, shit, saliva and "serum".

Hepatitis A is transmitted primarily via shit, often indirectly. Directly for some of us. One-third of Americans have been infected with Hepatitis A. There is an inexpensive and effective vaccine for Hepatitis A available. Every man who has sex with men should very seriously consider getting vaccinated.

Hepatitis B: Extremely low risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. After discussing transmission via blood, serum, saliva (spit), semen (cum), and vaginal fluid the CDC says this about the Hepatitis B virus:
"[it] has also been detected in low concentrations in other body fluids, including tears, sweat, urine, feces, breast milk, cerebrospinal fluid, and synovial fluid; however, these fluids have not been associated with transmission."

Here's a chart comparing various bodily fluids and the risk of Hepatitis B transmission. Click on the image to get a full size version.

Here are the essential facts about Hepatitis B according to the CDC. Men who have sex with men are a high risk group. An infected person may have no symptoms. There is an effective vaccine available which, while it is more expensive than the Hepatitis A vaccine, is far less expensive than the hospitalization and treatment that may result from a Hepatitis B infection. Every man who has sex with men should very seriously consider getting vaccinated.

Hepatitis C: No known risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. The complete story on Hepatitis C is not yet known, but it seems to be transmitted via blood contact, through sharing needles, for example. Here are the facts from CDC.

Hepatitis D: Extremely low risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. Hepatitis D is transmitted the same way as Hepatitis B and requires a Hepatitis B infection! Avoid Hepatitis B and you avoid Hepatitis D. As with B, there is no known transmission via urine. More info from CDC

Hepatitis E: Not a risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. It's transmitted via shit, like Hepatitis A, but unlike A, Hepatitis E is not commonly transmitted directly from person to person. Transmission is via infected water, unclean fresh food, raw shellfish, etc. Not via urine. More CDC Facts

Herpes simplex: No additional risk whether drinking your own or someone else's. Herpes is spread by direct contact. The person infected with herpes may be symptom free and may not know he is infected. Urine has no effect on whether herpes is transmitted or not. You can avoid direct contact by drinking piss from a glass or letting your wet friend spray it in your mouth from a bit of a distance. Heavy facts from the CDC

Drugs

Drugs are a risk. How much and what kind of a risk depends on the drugs and you. The kidneys will remove some of virtually any drug in the body, whether that drug is caffeine, alcohol, an antibiotic, a protease inhibitor, crystal meth, cocaine, nicotine, whatever. Some of the factors you must consider:

• What is the likelihood your partner has consumed some drug(s) you don't necessarily want to share?
• Here's a handy rule of thumb: Men lie.
  
  
• How much of that drug will be passed through his piss?
• This involves a lot of guesswork and/or experience. Pharmaceutical companies do research (with legal drugs) to determine how much of a drug leaves a body and how fast, but they only care about the overall amount, not how much goes out via urine, shit, breathing or sweating. So you won't be able to find out from the scientific literature.
• In many cases the amount of a drug passed in urine is minuscule.
• Our consulting piss drinker tells us that the amount of alcohol passed via piss is extremely low.
• The same piss pig says enough of some protease inhibitors is passed to strongly flavor the piss.
• His tireless research shows, unfortunately, that no detectable amounts of Viagra® go out with the piss.
• There are many stories of hallucinogens and crystal and other stimulants being passed unchanged and affecting the piss drinker as though he had taken the drug directly.
  
  
• How willing are you to consume some unknown amount of some possibly unknown drug?
• Will you be driving or operating heavy machinery?
• Do you have religious or other moral objections to consuming some drugs?
• Are you HIV positive and already taking a ton of meds?
• Are you on probation and subject to drug tests?
• Are you sensitive or allergic to some common drugs?
• Are you an airline pilot, surgeon, Secret Service agent, astronaut, or nuclear power plant technician who has to be on the job in less than 48 hours?

Some men say that it is the responsibility of the pisser to tell the drinker if he is using any drugs. It's a nice idea, but our piss pig tells us it has never happened to him. If you are about to drink a man's piss and want to know if he might be using drugs, you must ask him! Then, you have to decide if you believe what he tells you.

Health Benefits

Some people believe that drinking or massaging yourself with your own urine can have tremendous health benefits. We think we can be pretty sure the CDC has spent no money researching this. If you are taking medications, drinking your own urine means you could be reconsuming some of your own medication, thereby increasing your dosage, which is probably not good.

Books about urine therapy:

Golden Fountain : The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy

Your Own Perfect Medicine

Urine Therapy: Nature's Elixir for Good Health

Websites about urine therapy:

Your Own Perfect Medicine

Urine Therapy HPS

Biomedx site on urine therapy

Urine_Therapy Yahoo Group

UrineTherapy Yahoo Group

Cut Yahoo Group - Urine therapy for cancer patients

A skeptical discussion of urine therapy

Google search for "urine therapy"