Activists say the research marks a growing awareness connecting everyday life to the toxic contamination of the planet and ongoing harm to the climate. More research is examining how women are disproportionately impacted.
Investigators evaluated 24 unique types of tampons from 14 brands with a range of absorbency (regular, super, super plus, and ultra). Seven of the products were labeled as organic. A total of 30 tampons were sampled (two lots were purchased for several of the products; hence, there were 30 tampons tested but 24 unique types). Each tampon was tested twice, for a total of 60 tests.
I would like to point out that this can only be considered an exploratory study since one to two tampons of each type represents a small sampling and is not representative of the likely millions of tampons used every year.
The investigators sampled the absorbent part of the tampon, meaning the core (the cotton-looking fluffy stuff), and the woven cover, if one existed, looking for 16 different metals/metalloids. Twenty-six tampons were purchased in the US and four in the EU or UK. The country of purchase does not tell us where the product was made or where the cotton or wood pulp originated.
The results do not tell us which tampon brand tested positive for which metal/metalloid. Very little chromium or mercury was found, so we won’t discuss those results further.
Dr. Love emailed me a few concerns. She told me that in the “processing of the tampon samples, they use a cotton reference material only, not accounting for the other materials that tampons might contain.” Some of the tampons have rayon, polyester, or polypropylene, and, according to Dr. Love, “these non-cotton materials could impact the results” if they aren’t accounted for in the reference material.
The study reports a geometric mean of 120 nanograms of lead per gram of tampon material. 120 ng/g is essentially the same as 120 parts per billion.
Why do tampons have lead in them in the first place? Well, because they are made from cotton, which is a plant. Lead is an elemental metal that is ubiquitous on the planet. Plants in particular take up lead as they grow in soil - which means that plants will contain lead.
So let’s talk about some other plants you might encounter:
Textiles and clothing? Yep, also made with plant materials, including cotton.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in the US has set a level of 90,000 ppb (90 parts per million (ppm)) for lead in accessible parts of children’s products, including textiles. This was created specifically to help protect children from lead exposure, a population that is of particular risk for lead poisoning. That’s over 750 TIMES HIGHER than the mean lead levels detected in tampons.
The REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals) program by the European Chemicals Agency also sets limits on the use of lead in consumer products, including textiles. Their regulation is set even higher: 500,000 ppb of lead in textiles (including those with skin contact). That’s over 4,166 TIMES HIGHER than the mean lead levels detected in tampons.
Ok, I know what you’re going to say. Well, clothing, fabrics, furniture material, they’re only touching your external skin. The vaginal mucosa is different. A little bit, sure. But, the structure of the epithelium in your skin and the mucosa is actually pretty similar.
Tea leaves? Yes, plants you steep in hot water and then drink?
The European Union has a safety threshold of 5,000 parts per billion lead in food stuffs, including tea leaves. That’s over 42 TIMES HIGHER than the mean lead levels detected in tampons.
What about water? We ingest that and it comes into contact with lots of things that could contaminate it.
Tap water and bottled water are regulated by two different safety agencies. Tap water is regulated by the EPA, and bottled is regulated by the FDA. For tap water, there is a safety threshold of 15 ppb, and bottled water has a 5 ppb allowable level.
Say you drink 2 liters of water a day. For ease of math, 5 ppb also equals 5 micrograms per liter, and 15 ppb equals 15 micrograms per liter. That means, at these thresholds for water, something you ingest every single day, you could consume between 10 and 30 micrograms of lead daily.
10 micrograms equals 10,000 nanograms.
30 micrograms equals 30,000 nanograms.
To go back to our tampon example, let’s use the maximum detected level of lead: 936 nanograms in a 2 gram tampon. These levels in water you might consume daily are between 10 and 32 TIMES HIGHER than the lead detected in a tampon.
Alright, what about plants we burn and then inhale? Like… cannabis?
Cannabis is not federally regulated, so regulations vary by states that have legal weed growing practices.
California? The ultra-chemophobic state that, because of Prop 65, tells you *everything* causes cancer? Their limit on lead in cannabis is 500 nanograms per gram, which is high than the maximum lead concentration detected in a tampon in this study.
Washington state? 1,200 nanograms per gram.
Michigan? Even higher. 2,000 nanograms per gram in cannabis.
Colorado? The highest. 10,000 nanograms per gram in cannabis.
If you’re terrified of these news headlines regarding tampons, but not about these other things that contain far higher lead levels, you might want to explore your confirmation bias.
And, speaking of menstruation, one common yet ignored source of lead is…
I’m saying that starting panics over tampons is a bad idea, as it easily lends itself to moral panics about bodily purity. Then, a few decades later we’re back to monotheistic theories of dirty women and how women should be segregated and kept in huts during the “dirty time”.
Sweet holy jesus! I can’t tell if you’re being a passive aggressive tunt or trying to actually be helpful @_@!
I see what you’re trying to do. I am just going to walk over here, and chill out. Things are always safe until they’re not. Look, I am no doctor and I am a bunk ass scientist. All I am trying to say is that most people who identify as women tend to menstruate anywhere from like 7-50 years old. And that if they used tampons consistently for every month up until then, because it can dissolve in water, and your sniz-snatch tends to be moist that your body probably absorbs the particles directly. And since it’s not through your digestive system, I am not sure if it gets processed in the way it would if we say…ate a bunch of dried fruits. Which were shown to be higher in lead quantities. Because I am not sure if it ever passes through the kidneys. But what I am saying is all speculation, because I very openly say - as I am saying here - I don’t know. You can link a study - and I will absolutely read it. I don’t need to be handed something with all sorts of craziness and zero explanation as to why you (specifically) are passing me it. And yes, I know most things have lead in them. But like I said, lead can be dissolved in water (I had a nightmare lead situation at one point in my life moving and I had to learn this stuff the hard way). I know it can be in tea, because I know it’s in pretty much all crops. I would be a fool to think that it could not be in clothing made from said crops. But at the same time, a piece of clothing makes its way to me and it’s probably pre-washed several times over. A tampon? I don’t know because I haven’t looked into the manufacturing process. Clearly you have to prep cotton before it can even be utilized. But I can’t imagine it would be as washed. Because it doesn’t have to go through a mutli-formation process to become a tampon like a shirt does or a pair of jeans. And on top of that, I wash my clothes too. I mean that’s at least three washes before my body gets it. And it’s external, it’s not a moist pocket. I mean, you can sweat. All lead exposure isn’t ideal. But it’s really different when we’re talking vaginal health - which already gets the short end of the stick. Likewise, I wasn’t panicking. In fact, I have a very “is what it is” kinda vibe to it, because I literally could not give a shit outside of the fact that I do not like things that hurt women’s health.
And in expressing it on a personal level, I think if you think about it - it’s just another series of pollutants that are added to our lives (cause women do a lot of cleaning and women do a lot of grooming and all of that stuff can be caustic as well). But in the grand scheme of things I have absolutely zero - no - control over whether anything has lead. Is used. Etc. I just know that women tend to bleed (not all women) and that there will be a set of women who will insert tampons into their vaginas for a extended period of time. And it’s a stressor that most men will never have to face. Even if we lined people up and made them all eat the same things, wear the same things - if the person who could menstruate added regular tampon use to the list it just adds extra exposure. That’s all I was saying. People can have different lifestyles and their lifestyles can expose them to all sorts of stuff but having a period outside of some situations or forms of control are pretty standard affair for most vagina holders. Is all.
Jesus freakin’ christ. Jesus.
EVERYTHING I SAY IS PURELY OPINION AND I LITERALLY NEVER KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING. I’M JUST GOING WITH THE JAZZ IN MY HEAD AND HAVING A GOOD TIME TRYING TO CHILL WITH STRANGERS ON THE NET <<<<<
If you allow this baseless accusation on tampons to become an urban suburban and rural myth, you end up promoting these assholes’ ideologies. They can use this “fact” about lead in tampons to deny relevant healthcare or to prevent stuff like: https://www.freethetampons.org/ by claiming that it harms girls. It’s important to prevent the noxious disinformation of tomorrow just like it’s important to prevent heavy metal bioaccumulation.
Do women usually increase their levels of lead (i.e. circulating in the blood) via vaginal exposure to lead containing materials?
From 3 weeks ago:
Don’t Panic about Lead in Tampons - by Dr. Jen Gunter
Harmful Levels of Lead in Tampons?! Not so fast…
And, speaking of menstruation, one common yet ignored source of lead is…
Backyard hens’ eggs contain 40 times more lead on average than shop eggs. Hopefully, people stuffing eggs into their orifices is getting less popular.
I’m saying that starting panics over tampons is a bad idea, as it easily lends itself to moral panics about bodily purity. Then, a few decades later we’re back to monotheistic theories of dirty women and how women should be segregated and kept in huts during the “dirty time”.
@[email protected]
Sweet holy jesus! I can’t tell if you’re being a passive aggressive tunt or trying to actually be helpful @_@!
I see what you’re trying to do. I am just going to walk over here, and chill out. Things are always safe until they’re not. Look, I am no doctor and I am a bunk ass scientist. All I am trying to say is that most people who identify as women tend to menstruate anywhere from like 7-50 years old. And that if they used tampons consistently for every month up until then, because it can dissolve in water, and your sniz-snatch tends to be moist that your body probably absorbs the particles directly. And since it’s not through your digestive system, I am not sure if it gets processed in the way it would if we say…ate a bunch of dried fruits. Which were shown to be higher in lead quantities. Because I am not sure if it ever passes through the kidneys. But what I am saying is all speculation, because I very openly say - as I am saying here - I don’t know. You can link a study - and I will absolutely read it. I don’t need to be handed something with all sorts of craziness and zero explanation as to why you (specifically) are passing me it. And yes, I know most things have lead in them. But like I said, lead can be dissolved in water (I had a nightmare lead situation at one point in my life moving and I had to learn this stuff the hard way). I know it can be in tea, because I know it’s in pretty much all crops. I would be a fool to think that it could not be in clothing made from said crops. But at the same time, a piece of clothing makes its way to me and it’s probably pre-washed several times over. A tampon? I don’t know because I haven’t looked into the manufacturing process. Clearly you have to prep cotton before it can even be utilized. But I can’t imagine it would be as washed. Because it doesn’t have to go through a mutli-formation process to become a tampon like a shirt does or a pair of jeans. And on top of that, I wash my clothes too. I mean that’s at least three washes before my body gets it. And it’s external, it’s not a moist pocket. I mean, you can sweat. All lead exposure isn’t ideal. But it’s really different when we’re talking vaginal health - which already gets the short end of the stick. Likewise, I wasn’t panicking. In fact, I have a very “is what it is” kinda vibe to it, because I literally could not give a shit outside of the fact that I do not like things that hurt women’s health.
And in expressing it on a personal level, I think if you think about it - it’s just another series of pollutants that are added to our lives (cause women do a lot of cleaning and women do a lot of grooming and all of that stuff can be caustic as well). But in the grand scheme of things I have absolutely zero - no - control over whether anything has lead. Is used. Etc. I just know that women tend to bleed (not all women) and that there will be a set of women who will insert tampons into their vaginas for a extended period of time. And it’s a stressor that most men will never have to face. Even if we lined people up and made them all eat the same things, wear the same things - if the person who could menstruate added regular tampon use to the list it just adds extra exposure. That’s all I was saying. People can have different lifestyles and their lifestyles can expose them to all sorts of stuff but having a period outside of some situations or forms of control are pretty standard affair for most vagina holders. Is all.
Jesus freakin’ christ. Jesus.
EVERYTHING I SAY IS PURELY OPINION AND I LITERALLY NEVER KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING. I’M JUST GOING WITH THE JAZZ IN MY HEAD AND HAVING A GOOD TIME TRYING TO CHILL WITH STRANGERS ON THE NET <<<<<
Yo, you broke me homes.
I wasn’t referring to you, but to the post itself.
While it’s not as unnerving as the exposure from tampons,
Some condom and lubricant brands contain alarming levels of PFAS – study | PFAS | The Guardian
Yeah, his fanclub is part of the problem.
Bloody Hell: Does Religion Punish Women for Menstruating?
There’s a term: “period poverty”. Look it up.
If you allow this baseless accusation on tampons to become an
urbansuburban and rural myth, you end up promoting these assholes’ ideologies. They can use this “fact” about lead in tampons to deny relevant healthcare or to prevent stuff like: https://www.freethetampons.org/ by claiming that it harms girls. It’s important to prevent the noxious disinformation of tomorrow just like it’s important to prevent heavy metal bioaccumulation.