Tampon caution (New study seems very alarming to me)

[Catwoman]

https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/first-study-to-measure-toxic-metals-in-tampons-shows-arsenic-and-lead 

There is a new study that shows toxic metals in tampons. Apparently major brands in multiple countries are involved, but no specific brands were mentioned in any of the articles that I saw, and no conclusions have been drawn in terms of the actual health effects of exposure to the metals, although obviously there are some real concerns here.

 

 

Edited July 6 by Catwoman
Changed thread title

[Carrie12345]

This upsets me so much! I am not a frequent tampon user, but they get me through certain situations that I haven’t been able to successfully manage with other methods or specialty brands.

I will never understand how any company/developer/producer can think stuff like this is no big deal.

[mom31257]

I haven't used any in nine years, but I used tampons most of my life. I can't change it now, but I can tell others, including my daughter. 

[mommyoffive]

13 minutes ago, mom31257 said:

I haven't used any in nine years, but I used tampons most of my life. I can't change it now, but I can tell others, including my daughter. 

Yep, for sure scary to think how much you used them.  Hmm maybe need to try discs or cups.  I am not seeing a list of the brands, did I miss it?

Edited July 6 by mommyoffive

[Faith-manor]

Forwarding this to my daughter who uses tampons though not exclusively. Thanks, Catwoman!

[HomeAgain]

36 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

  I am not seeing a list of the brands, did I miss it?

You didn't miss it.  The link to the original study in the article kept them all anonymous, giving them only letter designations.

[mommyoffive]

11 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

You didn't miss it.  The link to the original study in the article kept them all anonymous, giving them only letter designations.

Ok, thank you for the second eyes.  Way to little sleep here!

[SKL]

Interesting, but I have no intentions of getting alarmed without more information.  I hope more useful info follows in terms of actual health risks, and also, more specifics about which materials have more vs. less of the concerning ingredients.

I recommend that tampons be used sparingly, for times when pads are not enough to get us through to the next reasonable bathroom break, when we're swimming, etc.  Organics are probably a good idea if you have reason to wear tampons a lot.

However, preventing women from fully engaging in life because they have heavier periods is a terrible and backward idea.  Locking them up at home can't be better for any of those health conditions the study is warning us about.

[EKS]

Just now, SKL said:

Interesting, but I have no intentions of getting alarmed without more information. 

Exactly. 

For example, it isn't the amount of [insert bad thing] that is in the tampon; it is how much of [the bad thing] that leaches out during normal use.  Further, it is about how much of [the bad thing] it takes to cause a problem--both in terms of the amount in each encounter and the cumulative amount encountered over time. 

As far as I can tell, the study did nothing to address any of this.

[KSera]

13 minutes ago, SKL said:

However, preventing women from fully engaging in life because they have heavier periods is a terrible and backward idea.  Locking them up at home can't be better for any of those health conditions the study is warning us about.

Clearly that would be a terrible idea. Fortunately, I don’t see any suggestion for anything of the sort anywhere. For people who are concerned about heavy metal exposure (and other impacts from tampons), there are so many varieties of cups and discs to choose from instead, and they are usually even better for heavy flow and don’t carry the same TSS risk either. 

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, KSera said:

Clearly that would be a terrible idea. Fortunately, I don’t see any suggestion for anything of the sort anywhere. For people who are concerned about heavy metal exposure (and other impacts from tampons), there are so many varieties of cups and discs to choose from instead, and they are usually even better for heavy flow and don’t carry the same TSS risk either. 

Yeah I don’t see that it has to mean locking women up during periods. It would be nifty if we did give some actual consideration to perfectly normal biological facts though and recognize that a woman on heavy days of her period might very well fully engage in life differently than the other 25-30 days before and after her period, and that it’s more reasonable to accommodate her accordingly than to demand that all women everywhere either present an image of period-free living or be locked up at home periodically (pun intended).

[TravelingChris]

2 hours ago, KSera said:

Clearly that would be a terrible idea. Fortunately, I don’t see any suggestion for anything of the sort anywhere. For people who are concerned about heavy metal exposure (and other impacts from tampons), there are so many varieties of cups and discs to choose from instead, and they are usually even better for heavy flow and don’t carry the same TSS risk either. 

You can use pads too.  I hardly eve4 used tampons.   

It really would be easy to do a study of post menopausal women and ask what did they used and then compare if they had any kind pelvic cancer.

[prairiewindmomma]

Pads arent necessarily a ton safer. Material is still touching sensitive tissue, iykwim. This is why we should also be careful about period underwear also. Remember the whole PFAS scandal and the studies about how so much more PFAS is absorbed dermally than previously thought? Not trying to be a fear monger—just want to make sure everyone is really thinking this through.

Edited July 6 by prairiewindmomma

[prairiewindmomma]

Fwiw, lead, cadmium, phtalates, and PFAS are sometimes found in clothing also, especially in wrinkle free stuff and in fast fashion. There was a Shein/Ali Express recall last year, the scandal around Delta uniforms, the Thinx period underwear controversy, etc.  It’s been pretty widely discussed in the media at times and there are books like To Dye For by Wicker which can help bring a person up to speed.

Our family started bumping into this issue around 2005 with my toddler’s eczema. She could only wear oeko-tex certified cotton—and Hanna Andersson saved us. Since then, we have a lot more options for safe clothing.

 

 

[TechWife]

I went down a little bit of a rabbit trail while looking this up & found some tampon testing history. Did you guys know they were originally tested on an artificial vagina, at a constant flow rate, with saline? Additionally, the industry resisted using blood because it wasn’t expedient? They resisted testing with women as their subjects for the same reason. The corporations resisted testing and uniform labeling standards because of the perceived impact on finances. It’s wild to see the outright disregard for and discrimination against women in such clear terms. Although there’s still a long way to go when it comes to equality for all people in medical testing, we have indeed come a long way.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5436965/#:~:text=To be clear%2C tampons do,co-factor in many cases.

[prairiewindmomma]

Tampons and pads and menstrual cups/discs are classified as medical devices and they are not required to release their entire ingredient list. 
 

There’s an August 2023 NYT article where a University of Notre Dame third party tested dozens of menstrual products for PFAS. There’s a 2018 on VOCs in tampons that names brands….it’s all been very piecemeal. I can link these later when I get to my computer if anyone is interested. 

[wathe]

In order to decide whether or not to worry about the levels of metals and metalloids measured in this study, I would need to know the base-rate for environmental exposure for each of them-- which the authors do not seem to have addressed.   All of these metals are in our environment; we are constantly exposed to small amounts.  

Ca, Fe, Zn -- we eat these on purpose.  I'm not worried about minute amounts of them in my tampons.

The Canadian Drinking Water Guideline for arsenic is 0.01 mg/L.  Which works out to about 10 ng/g.   Measured values in my local municipality are relatively excellent, between 0.0001 and 0.0004 mg/L , which works out to 0.1-0.4 ng/g.    Drinking the proverbial 8 glasses of water per day (250g/cup*8cups=2000g=2L) means ingesting between 200 and 800 ng per day.  Plus whatever is in my rice and fruit.   With that value for context, a mean value of 2.56 ng/g in a 1 g tampon seems pretty trivial --- I'm getting 2 orders of magnitude more arsenic exposure just from drinking water.  

 I haven't bothered looking up base-rate exposure values for the other metals listed.   If any of the published levels exceed base-rate exposure by a meaningful amount, I would be interested to know, but I've already spent as much time on this as I'm going to.

I'm not too fussed.

Edited July 6 by wathe

[wathe]

Adding that this is a common news media tactic:  publish scary-sounding data without context.   

"What's the base-rate?" is one of my very first critical appraisal questions.  

[mommyoffive]

Just PSA that Thix says it doesn't have PFAS in their underwear

Thinx is not made with PFAS

Thinx are safe. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are absolutely not part of our product design. We also take measures to help ensure these substances are not added to our products through material, design, production, facility, and supplier controls. We care deeply about the materials used in our products, putting comfort and safety at the core of our design, development and manufacturing.

 

https://www.thinx.com/thinx/product-safety-standards

[mommyoffive]

39 minutes ago, wathe said:

Adding that this is a common news media tactic:  publish scary-sounding data without context.   

"What's the base-rate?" is one of my very first critical appraisal questions.  

Kind of like the metal in chocolate study.  I just read a new study that says that study is not alarming at all.  And eating chocolate in moderation is fine.

[prairiewindmomma]

42 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Just PSA that Thix says it doesn't have PFAS in their underwear

Thinx is not made with PFAS

Thinx are safe. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are absolutely not part of our product design. We also take measures to help ensure these substances are not added to our products through material, design, production, facility, and supplier controls. We care deeply about the materials used in our products, putting comfort and safety at the core of our design, development and manufacturing.

 

https://www.thinx.com/thinx/product-safety-standards

Yes, they removed it after the uproar and had third party testing done to verify.

[Faith-manor]

I do think we need to talk though about life time exposure. Some things as a once in a while use are just fine. But when we talk about decades of exposure, then we need to talk about the body's ability to shed this stuff in a timely manner. Dd already has some metal exposures and high levels that were problematic. Adding too that is a concern. She had to be a lot more careful than most folks.

[Catwoman]

34 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I do think we need to talk though about life time exposure. Some things as a once in a while use are just fine. But when we talk about decades of exposure, then we need to talk about the body's ability to shed this stuff in a timely manner. Dd already has some metal exposures and high levels that were problematic. Adding too that is a concern. She had to be a lot more careful than most folks.

I agree. What might be totally safe for occasional use might not be safe at all if it's used for several days and nights every month for decades.

I don't like it that this study doesn't name the brands they tested. I don't love it that they don't have more conclusive information. But I posted it anyway, because I think it's something that is worth keeping an eye on -- and if I were still at an age where I wore tampons, I would want to know if there were any suspicions about their safety.

I'm so sorry about your dd's exposure! That kind of stuff is just awful because it's not like she would have ever intentionally exposed herself to heavy metals, yet someone's negligence somewhere along the line meant that she has to deal with the long term effects. I hope there are treatments that can help her. 😞 

[Farrar]

I have the impression that the young people barely use them these days. The section of them at the store has definitely shrunk in the last couple of decades. I think they're mostly using cups and discs.

Because of midlife... ahem... issues... I ended up having to stop being a lifelong tampon user and it took me literally months and going through half a dozen options to switch to cups/discs, but now I'm happier with that with whatever time I've got left on this nonsense.

But if there was damage, I'm sure it's done. I assume this study is just the tip of the iceberg. There's so little data about anything to do with women and menstruation.

[BusyMom5]

I had a baby around 2010 and when I got my period back, around 2012, whatever had been in the pads I normally buy changed, or I developed an allergy.  I've used cloth pads ever since, and if I needed a tampon or disposable for some reason- long travel ir swimming - I bought only organic with no fillers or toppers. I considered a cup, but I hate tampons anyway. I've tried to get my girls to use cloth- 1 uses only disposable (community living in dorm, so understandable), 1 uses a mix, depending on the day, and one uses all cloth 🤷‍♀️

[Carrie12345]

To me, my alarm is due to the application in a mucus membrane which, generally speaking, is not how we usually interact with many questionable additives to items.

Along with the simple question… Why?! Why put these things in these types of products?

[City Mouse]

We shall see, as it is too late for me. After 40+ years of using disposable feminine products, I have had a life time of exposure, and I am just so lucky (sarcasm) to be one of the few women who experiences late-onset menopause.

[Elizabeth86]

I haven’t used them regularly in ages. They have always felt intuitively unhealthy to me and I do a lot of unhealthy things so I’m not sure why tampons worry me but they do.

[Melissa in Australia]

I will continue to use them. I don't think they are staying in long enough for me to have a problem. Max 1 hour, min 15 minutes. Even with a pad. I have never been able to do " normal activity on heavy day" as any activity just increased the flow and too much chance  of a big mess if I wasn't close to a bathroom at all times.  

[gardenmom5]

20 hours ago, Catwoman said:

https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/first-study-to-measure-toxic-metals-in-tampons-shows-arsenic-and-lead 

There is a new study that shows toxic metals in tampons. Apparently major brands in multiple countries are involved, but no specific brands were mentioned in any of the articles that I saw, and no conclusions have been drawn in terms of the actual health effects of exposure to the metals, although obviously there are some real concerns here.

 

 

I consider that a flag for (un)reliability.    If they really had that data - they'd include the brand name with how much metals were found.  They'd supposedly have the data to back up any threats of lawsuit by the manufacturer.  Instead, they're just throwing "oh, we found this. . . ",
I also remember my mother going on about how "____ tampons put asbestos in them to make you bleed more".  I can only guess (and I do suspect) where she would get such absurd claims.

I remember in the 80s when TSS was making the news on a fairly regular basis.  "Rely" tampons were named -BY NAME.  (So was the contraceptive sponge).  Both had the data to back up the connection, and both were pulled from the market.

[KSera]

2 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I consider that a flag for (un)reliability.    If they really had that data - they'd include the brand name with how much metals were found.  They'd supposedly have the data to back up any threats of lawsuit by the manufacturer.  Instead, they're just throwing "oh, we found this. . . ",
I also remember my mother going on about how "____ tampons put asbestos in them to make you bleed more".  I can only guess (and I do suspect) where she would get such absurd claims.

I remember in the 80s when TSS was making the news on a fairly regular basis.  "Rely" tampons were named -BY NAME.  (So was the contraceptive sponge).  Both had the data to back up the connection, and both were pulled from the market.

I don’t think lack of naming brands necessarily says anything about reliability of the data itself. There could be a number of reasons, but it certainly may come down to the fact that they haven’t studied yet whether these data actually mean anything, so for them to publicize brands and have  people start making their decisions based on this if it turns out that there isn’t actually any impact of it, that could be a problem.

[Ting Tang]

Thank you for sharing. I use tampons but also have a history of lead poisoning. It’s literally everywhere and in so many things! 

[Catwoman]

37 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I consider that a flag for (un)reliability.    If they really had that data - they'd include the brand name with how much metals were found.  They'd supposedly have the data to back up any threats of lawsuit by the manufacturer.  Instead, they're just throwing "oh, we found this. . . ",
I also remember my mother going on about how "____ tampons put asbestos in them to make you bleed more".  I can only guess (and I do suspect) where she would get such absurd claims.

I remember in the 80s when TSS was making the news on a fairly regular basis.  "Rely" tampons were named -BY NAME.  (So was the contraceptive sponge).  Both had the data to back up the connection, and both were pulled from the market.

Well, the study was led by a UC Berkeley researcher, so I think it's legit.

I'm assuming they aren't naming names right now because they don't have enough concrete evidence against these companies yet, and they would probably prefer to avoid the inevitable lawsuits when they don't have any solid proof that the heavy metals are actually causing health problems.

[Frances]

14 hours ago, SKL said:

However, preventing women from fully engaging in life because they have heavier periods is a terrible and backward idea.  Locking them up at home can't be better for any of those health conditions the study is warning us about.

Unless one has health conditions that would make it problematic, the very low dose long lasting IUDs often completely eliminate periods. That seems far easier than using tampons and worrying about toxic metals.

[Farrar]

I don't consider not sharing the brands a sign that the study is sketchy. It's actually the opposite to some extent. I assume they didn't want to single anyone out from a single study.

As for why... I think it's more that stuff just ends up in things unless you control for it. Maybe they're adding it, but I would guess it's things that are used in cleaning and processing and they just aren't taking it out. It's not like we're all purposefully adding mercury to our fish, you know? And I'll bet we're not adding this stuff to our tampons either.

[prairiewindmomma]

The heavy metals tend to be in the cotton itself when organic cotton is contaminated. The plants pull it from the contaminated soil. 

[ktgrok]

On 7/6/2024 at 10:41 AM, KSera said:

Clearly that would be a terrible idea. Fortunately, I don’t see any suggestion for anything of the sort anywhere. For people who are concerned about heavy metal exposure (and other impacts from tampons), there are so many varieties of cups and discs to choose from instead, and they are usually even better for heavy flow and don’t carry the same TSS risk either. 

Cups and discs don't work for everyone - I've tried several but my cervix is in a weird place so none are comfortable/effective. I have to use a certain brand of tampon only, for the same reason. And I am willing to admit I can't STAND wearing pads - it's a sensory thing. And the dampness irritates my skin. U click tampons from Kotex are the thing that makes periods not be awful. 

On 7/6/2024 at 8:06 PM, Carrie12345 said:

To me, my alarm is due to the application in a mucus membrane which, generally speaking, is not how we usually interact with many questionable additives to items.

Along with the simple question… Why?! Why put these things in these types of products?

I'm guessing it in in the cotton already - absorbed from the ground the same way metals end up in lots of foods. We are eating/drinking a non zero amount every day.