Are women's feminine hygiene products hazardous??

Tampons along with pads and napkins contain three potentially harmful items, along with the threat of TSS (toxic shock syndrome).

Two of these products include Rayon (for absorbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching the products). The tampon industry is convinced that women need bleached white items in order to view their product/s as both pure and clean. The problem here is that the dioxin produced in this bleaching process can lead to very significant health problems.

Dioxin is potentially carcinogenic (cancer-associated) and is toxic to both the immune and reproductive systems. It has also been linked to endometriosis and lower sperm counts for men.

Last September the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that there really is no set "acceptable" level of exposure to dioxin given that it is cumulative and slow to disintegrate. The real danger comes from repeated contact. Karen Houppert "Pulling the Plug on the Tampon Industry" provides an interesting and very informative historical background regarding the lack of reality basis from the manufactures who clearly go to great lengths to hid the potential harm their products
create.

Recently the journal of Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and
Gynecology published the results of a study on toxic shock syndrome. The authors of the study, Dr. Philip Tierno Jr., director of microbiology and diagnostic immunology at Tisch Hospital/NYU Medical Center, and Dr. Bruce Hanna, associate professor of pathology at NYU Medical Center, tested 20 varieties of tampons and concluded that, while all-cotton tampons produced none of the deadly TSS toxin, all the other tampon brands--Playtex, O.B., Tampax, Kotex--amplified the production of the
toxin.
 

This article is from "Pulling the Plug on the Tampon Industry"

The average women using about 4-5 tampons a day, five days a month, for 38 menstruating years should constitute repeated contact. Rayon contributes to the danger of tampons and dioxin because it is a highly absorbent substance. Therefore, when fibers from the tampons are left behind in the vagina (which usually occurs), it creates a breeding ground for the bacteria associated with TSS, Toxic Shock syndrome along with the additional exposure to trace amounts of dioxin.

The following article is yet to be verified so as soon as verification is available, I will let you know. I feel that it raises some very troubling
issues and should be considered.

Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in tampons?

This month's Essence magazine has a small article about the asbestos and tampon connection.

Why would the manufacturers include asbestos? Only due to greed, as asbestos promotes bleeding, hence better sales. You might be wondering why isn't this against the law, since asbestos is clearly a dangerous substance ? Because the current laws do not consider tampons as being
ingested, and therefore they avoid regulation.

I fail to understand why the disposal of the asbestos tainted tampons is not a potent issue. Stay tuned for additional information as it becomes available.

SOME SAFER ALTERNATIVES?

Using feminine hygiene products that aren't bleached and that are all cotton. Other feminine hygiene products (pads/napkins) contain dioxin as well, but they are not nearly as dangerous since they are not in direct contact with the mucus membranes of the vagina. Both pads/napkins and tampons need to not be bleached. So, what can you do if you can't give up using tampons? Use tampons, that are made from 100% cotton, and that are UNBLEACHED. Unfortunately, there are very, few companies that make these safe tampons. They are usually only found in health food stores.

Not surprisingly, countries all over the world (Sweden, Germany, Canada, etc.) have demanded a switch to this safer tampon, while the U.S. has decided to keep us in the dark about it. In 1989, activists in England mounted a campaign against chlorine bleaching. Six weeks and 50,000 letters later, the makers of sanitary products switched to oxygen bleaching (one of the green methods available). (MS magazine, May/June
1995).

You can contact the companies at:
Tampax (Tambrands), Playtex, Kotex.