How Toxic is your Tampon?
It is impossible to say exactly what is in disposable menstrual products, because manufacturers are not required to reveal the ingredients. But from what we do know, there are some pretty unfriendly chemicals floating about in our tampons and sanitary pads! Recently I’ve been working with WECF on their #ToxicFreePeriod report and through doing so learnt a lot about why menstrual products are actually quite toxic both for our bodies and the planet. In this article, I will be discussing what menstrual products are made from and how they are toxic to our bodies and the world around us.
It’s toxic for… the farmers
25% of the worldwide, annual insecticide use and 90% of the pesticide use is accounted for by cotton cultivation. Cotton is breathable and absorbent but it definitely isn’t environmentally friendly. Research from WWF states that 20,000 litres of water is needed to grow enough cotton for one T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Regular cotton is grown intensively, meaning the soil degrades, removing nutrients and leading to unhealthy crops that need more pesticides and insecticides to survive. Every year between 25 million and 77 million agricultural workers worldwide suffer from pesticide poisoning. Pesticide poisoning can affect breathing, cause dizziness or vomiting, and in severe cases, lead to death. The majority of cotton farmers worldwide are women from the global south, who are exposed to toxic substances all day long, and often pass it on to their children throughout pregnancy and through breastfeeding.
It’s toxic for… your body
Synthetic fragrances are often included in disposable menstrual products that can disturb the naturally occurring, good bacteria. These can be made from up to 3,900 chemicals, some of which have been shown to be carcinogenic or harmful to reproduction. Not only are fragrances harmful to our bodies, they also perpetuate the idea that our naturally occurring menstrual cycle is something to be covered up with flowery, ‘clean’ smells. Tampons also contain chemicals to stop them catching on fire. Flame retardants are used to make plastic heat resistant, and are most commonly found in electronics and furniture like mattresses and pillows. There has not been enough significant research to determine the health impacts that flame retardants may have on our bodies, but it has already been linked to fertility issues and cancer.
It’s toxic for… the environment
90% of menstrual products contain plastic. Plastic is not inherently a bad material — it is durable, sanitary and can be used for many purposes. However, one of the biggest problems is that it doesn’t biodegrade. Every piece of plastic you’ve ever used, still exists either in a similar form to how you disposed of it, or in tiny pieces of harmful micro-plastic that make their way into the stomachs of fish and birds. Disposable menstrual products that contain plastic often make their way directly to the waterways and oceans, due to being flushed down the toilet. That means the plastic cannot be safely disposed of, and is directly contributing to the pollution of our planet. Not only are tampons and sanitary pads mostly made up of plastic, but they are also covered in plastic themselves.
11 thousand sanitary towels and tampons are thrown away by one person who menstruates in their lifetime. Used menstrual products are non-recyclable, which means they are either buried or burnt. In 2017, it was reported that 49 billion menstrual products were discarded across the EU. Now that’s a lot of plastic. In the UK, nearly half of the people who menstruate admit to flushing their tampons down the toilet, costing the taxpayer £88 million per year to unblock the drains. So the advice is of course to safely dispose of menstrual products in bins rather than down the loo. But even disposing ‘safely’ means sending tonnes of non-recyclable waste to landfill.
Burying our problems?
Disposable menstrual products ultimately end up either being washed out to sea or buried in ever increasing piles of waste. As already mentioned, menstrual products that are washed out to sea pollute the oceans and break down into micro-plastics that enter the food chain through fish and birds. And it’s not much better in landfills! Over time, waste in landfills leaches toxins into the soil and groundwater, causing widespread environmental damage.
What can we do about it?
A Toxic-Free Period starts with awareness, empowerment and better choices. We as consumers can decide which menstrual products to buy and which companies to support. Learning more about how cotton is grown, who it affects and why it is harmful to the environment is the the first step in making the first step away from disposable menstrual products. A more environmentally-friendly menstrual cycle starts with reusable products — something that can be safely sanitised and used over and over again. And right now there are plenty of products on the market. In my next article, I will be exploring all of those options and looking at how we can have a Toxic-Free Period; for ourselves, the environment, and our society.