How safe is your tampon?
If you still use conventional tampons, we need to talk.
Most conventional hygiene products are produced with toxic chemicals and hormone disrupting substances that has been linked to cancer, endometriosis, PCOS and infertility. It's important that we start to see the link between the products that we use, in and on our bodies, and the health conditions that women face today, because they are strongly related.
When I first started my health journey I became very conscious about my food. I would buy organic food as well as trying to use green cleaning, beauty and haircare products, but the product that I would put inside my vagina for days, weeks and years of my life, I didn't really know anything about. Until one day, where I found out that most of them contains glyphosate, or roundup. I became very frustrated and angry when I found out, and at first, I couldn't really see how these harmful substances could possibly end up in my tampons. But it's quite simple actually, as cotton, and the way it's grown and harvested is not much different from the way our food is.
How pesticides and other harmful chemicals end up in our hygiene products
Cotton is grown and harvested the same way as our food. Sprayed with pesticides like glyphosate (roundup) which explains the remaining chemicals lurking in our tampons and pads made from sprayed cotton plants. The cotton used in conventional hygiene products are usually also bleached with chlorine which is problematic on its own. The bleaching process creates chlorinated hydrocarbons, a hazardous group of chemicals with by-products, such as dioxins, some of the most toxic substances known. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), no safe level for dioxin exposure exists. Dioxins do not break down. They accumulate in our tissue with repeated exposure, meaning that women are at major risk for accumulation of dioxin.
Aside from cancer and endometriosis, dioxin exposure also causes birth defects, the inability to maintain a pregnancy, decreased fertility, diabetes and a suppressed immune system.
What's in the products and why it's problematic
Conventional tampons and pads are typically made with non-organic cotton, which is cotton that has been heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. Cotton is one of the world’s dirtiest crops due to its heavy use of pesticides.
Did you know that 84 million pounds of pesticides are sprayed on 14.4 million acres of conventional cotton grown each year in the US?
That a team of Argentine scientists found traces of glyphosate in 85% of personal care and feminine hygiene products containing cotton and commonly purchased in drugstores and supermarkets?
Or that glyphosate, the chemical found in Monsanto’s “RoundUp” herbicide used on genetically modified cotton crops, was being discovered in the vast majority of feminine hygiene products in 2015?
So not only do conventional tampons contain bleached, no-organic cotton filled with toxic chemicals, they also contains a mix of synthetic material like rayon and polysester. Rayon and polyester are synthetic materials which are cheaper to produce than cotton as well as being extra absorbent. One of the issues with these synthetic materials, is that they have been linked to toxic shock syndrome, a condition caused by bacterial toxins which is potentially fatal and a life-threatening complication. Essentially, those materials are what allows the bacteria that causes toxic shock syndrome to grow inside the vagina. Toxic shock syndrome is not a overly common occurrent, however, any indication of harm or potential harm by a material automatically disqualifies is for being safe for consumers to use, at least in my opinion. Unfortunately that's not what happens in the conventional hygiene product industry. Unlike tampons made up of non-organic cotton and synthetic materials, there is no reported cases of toxic shock syndrome with organic cotton. The synthetically fibers are specifically linkes to TSS.
Toxic inserted right into your bloodstream
Putting something inside your vagina, and letting it sit there, for several hours, is the same idea as putting something in your mouth for as long. However, your digestive system is much more able to process harmful chemicals and toxins, to pull them out and clear them from your body, whereas your vaginal tissue, there is no such filter, so the chemicals is literally going straight into your tissue and into your bloodstream. Meaning that the vagina is potentially even more dangerous to insert toxic in, than our mouth, because it's so absorbent, and so close to our bloodstream, without any filter. So as conventional tampons contains a list of harmful ingrediens like pesticide residue, xenoestrogens and other endocrine disruptors, we must understand that these will all end up in the delicate organs.
Choose natural
By using only 100% organic cotton and nothing else, you know exactly what you are putting into your body. Using brands that guarantee no pesticides, bleach, fragrance, BPA or synthetic materials.
Women even report that after switching from a conventional to a natural brand they experience that their chronic bacterial infections or yeast overgrowth went away. Even cases of less menstrual cramping and that their bleeding was less heavy and less painful has been reported after switching to cleaner alternatives. If you wonder about the connection between the use of conventional tampons that contains harmful chemicals and hormonal imbalances such as painful periods and heavy bleeding, read more here.
Safe brands
Luckily, natural brands have become much more widely available lately and are about the same price as regular options in many cases.
Natracare Tampons & Sanitary Pads: Made up of 100% organic cotton, free from harmful ingredients like plastic, rayon, and dye. They are ecologically friendly in the sense that they are composed of cornstarch, cellulose pulp, and non-toxic glue.
Seventh Generation and CORA are other natural brands with good alternatives. I buy my Natracare at iHerb or at my local health store.
It's all about reducing our chemical load, our exposure to xenoestrogens and other endocrine disruptors.