# Trans Harm Reduction (THR)

**Status (2026-04):** Active. Donation-funded, batch-cadence testing — not accepting on-demand requests.
**Location:** Ireland and Scotland (operational footprint); organiser in County Dublin, Ireland. Some operational reach into the Netherlands per GoFundMe metadata.
**Founded:** Not publicly documented as a registered entity; public testing archive begins June 2022.
**Principals:** **Mouse El Baba** — named on GoFundMe as the organiser, representing "THN — Trans Harm Reduction Network." No other named staff on the public site.
**URL:** https://transharmreduction.org/
**Specialisation:** Mutual-aid HRT testing (estradiol esters, testosterone esters) for trans self-medicators. Also peer support, a healthcare fund, and free safe-injection supplies (Ireland + Scotland).

Trans Harm Reduction is the archetype "donation-funded periodic batch testing" organisation for trans DIY HRT — closer in organisational logic to Spain's Energy Control circa 2000 than to a commercial lab. Operationally it is a **commissioner of tests** rather than a lab that owns instruments; a GoFundMe raised ~99% of a €6,800 goal toward purchasing in-house spectrometer capacity, but public confirmation that the instrument was acquired and is operational does not exist as of 2026-04-23.

## Instruments (with citations)

| Model / class | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|
| **GC-MS** (contract-outsourced) | Identity + contamination screening | https://transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing (2026-04-23) — "Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS)" is their disclosed primary method |
| In-house spectrometer (GoFundMe-funded) | Class unspecified | https://www.gofundme.com/f/lab-testing-equipment-for-trans-harm-reduction — funds raised; acquisition not publicly confirmed |

THR does not own GC-MS hardware themselves — they batch samples and commission runs at an **unnamed commercial lab** (likely EU-based; not disclosed publicly).

## Assays offered

- **Concentration / potency** — does the vial contain the claimed mg/mL?
- **Contamination screening** — presence of compounds beyond the expected (estradiol ester + oil carrier + benzyl benzoate + benzyl alcohol).

Example result framing from the THR archive:
> "GCMS detected only benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, oil components and estradiol enanthate. No contaminants found."
> (Paraphrased from result entries on transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing — retrieved 2026-04-22.)

Assays **not** offered:
- Sterility (USP <71>)
- Endotoxin / pyrogen
- Bioburden
- Heavy metals
- Moisture / water content

## Pricing

| Assay | Price | Turnaround | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive test (concentration + contamination) | **~€300 per single vial** (cost recovery) | Not published; batch cadence — 2 publications in 17 months via testing.trans.diy; 16 total on THR site spanning June 2022 – January 2026 (round-2 correction R2-M7; earlier draft said 18 — the live page lists 16 rows, combined-corpus total with testing.trans.diy's 4 rows minus 2 overlap is the 18 figure) | **C1** — stated directly at transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing |

**Funding model:** donations. No subscription, no commercial service. THR explicitly states: "Due to the cost, we currently cannot organise testing on request."

## Submission workflow

1. **Not currently accepting on-demand submissions.** Testing is run in batches when donations permit.
2. Vendors / community organisers coordinate batches via private channels (not publicly documented).
3. Contact: transharmreduction@protonmail.com.

This is the key operational difference from Finnrick or Janoshik — users cannot simply ship a vial and receive a COA. They wait for a batch.

## Sample requirements

- Single vial per sample.
- Form factors: oil-based injectable HRT (estradiol valerate / enanthate / cypionate; testosterone esters) based on published archive.
- Packaging / minimums: not publicly documented.
- Anonymity: inferred (vendor-supplied samples; ProtonMail contact).

## Publication practice

- **Own site archive:** 16 published tests spanning June 2022 → January 2026, covering estradiol enanthate (multiple vendors), estradiol valerate, estradiol cypionate, estradiol undecylate, and testosterone cypionate. Findings published as narrative per-sample posts, not aggregated vendor tables.
- **testing.trans.diy contribution:** 2 tests (2023-08-31 Astrovials EEn 40 mg/mL = 38.76 mg/mL PASS; 2025-01-03 Open Gate Labs EEn 40 mg/mL = 38.20 mg/mL PASS).
- **Social media:** Mastodon @transharmreduction, X @transharmredux, Instagram @transharmreduction — used for batch announcements and donation drives.

The testing.trans.diy `/about` page describes the site's overall method as HPLC, whereas THR's own reports explicitly say GCMS. **The result-level truth is GC-MS for the THR-contributed rows** — the testing.trans.diy site-wide label appears to pre-date (or ignore) THR's actual workflow (see critique M15).

## Reputation notes (public statements only — no speculation)

- THR is the largest single source of public HRT test data across the European trans DIY ecosystem by published-test count.
- Community respect for THR on r/TransDIY and on Mastodon is generally high — the organisation is treated as credible within the mutual-aid frame.
- The €300/sample cost ceiling × the breadth of HRT vendors × the rate of new product introductions means THR cannot realistically serve as a comprehensive vendor-QA layer at current funding. This is not a THR failing; it is a structural feature of the donation model.
- The GoFundMe closure at ~99% implies the community wants THR to have in-house capacity but the actual instrument-class purchased, calibration status, and operator qualification status are not publicly updated as of 2026-04-23.

## Structured claims

**Claim:** THR's published testing method is GC-MS.
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing (2026-04-23)

**Claim:** THR has published 16 tests from June 2022 through January 2026 (round-2 correction R2-M7 from earlier "18").
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing (re-confirmed via WebFetch 2026-04-23 — 16 tabulated rows)

**Claim:** THR charges ~€300 per single vial on a cost-recovery basis.
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing (2026-04-23)

**Claim:** THR's GoFundMe raised €6,750 of a €6,800 goal for spectrometer procurement.
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://www.gofundme.com/f/lab-testing-equipment-for-trans-harm-reduction (2026-04-22 snapshot)
**Notes:** €6,800 is too little for used HPLC-MS or GC-MS by itself; realistic budget-fit is used UV-Vis spectrophotometer or benchtop FTIR (see `research/04-equipment-market/ftir-uv-used-prices.md`). Until THR publishes the purchase, the instrument class remains C5 unknown.

**Claim:** Organiser is Mouse El Baba, County Dublin, Ireland.
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://www.gofundme.com/f/lab-testing-equipment-for-trans-harm-reduction

**Claim:** THR contributes 2 of 4 tests on testing.trans.diy.
**Confidence:** C1
**Source:** https://testing.trans.diy/labs/trans-harm-reduction (2026-04-22)

## Unknowns (C5)

- Exact identity of the commercial lab(s) THR contracts with.
- Specific GC-MS method / column / derivatization protocol.
- Whether any UV or LC measurements accompany GC-MS for concentration assay.
- Which spectrometer the GoFundMe proceeds bought, and whether it is operational.
- Legal structure (registered charity, informal association, etc.).
- Turnaround per sample (batch cadence; no per-sample SLA).
- Total testing volume across all programs beyond the 16 published on the site.
- Jurisdiction for legal purposes (Ireland? Scotland? EU? — "based in Ireland and Scotland" per /what-we-do, but no formal entity registration disclosed).

## Sources

- https://transharmreduction.org/ (2026-04-23)
- https://transharmreduction.org/what-we-do (2026-04-22)
- https://transharmreduction.org/hrt-testing (2026-04-22, 2026-04-23)
- https://www.gofundme.com/f/lab-testing-equipment-for-trans-harm-reduction (2026-04-22)
- https://testing.trans.diy/labs/trans-harm-reduction (2026-04-22)
- https://testing.trans.diy/results (2026-04-22)
- https://x.com/transharmredux (2026-04-22)
- https://www.instagram.com/transharmreduction/ (2026-04-22)
- `research/01-existing-services/trans-harm-reduction-lab.md` (round-1 deep dive; do not duplicate)