It has not been a particularly good year for tampons. In May, Tampax issued a weak-sauce response to their product being noticeably smaller, despite no change in labeling or price. Well, the latest tampon news may make you glad that they’re smaller: a new study has examined tampons from the US, UK, and Greece — three countries that currently have regulations on absorbency, but none requiring companies to test for harmful chemicals and metals (yet) — and found the presence of 16 heavy metals in tampons from 14 different brands. Which brands? The researchers aren’t naming them (yet), but they have identified all 16 metals for us, in a list that includes lead, arsenic, and mercury. Experts say it’s too early to abandon tampons altogether, because it’s unclear if they have any negative health effects.
The study and its results: According to a study published in the journal Environment International in June, researchers found “several toxic metals,” including lead and arsenic, across 14 brands of tampons. But experts say you shouldn’t toss the menstrual products just yet. “We know the metals are there, but we don’t know how much gets into the body,” Jamie Alan, Ph.D., an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, tells Women’s Health. … Researchers analyzed materials from 18 product lines from 14 brands of tampons. They picked from products listed as “top sellers” from an online retailer and store-brand versions from New York City, Athens, Greece and London. Researchers then measured the presence of 16 metals, all of which were found in measurable traces. “Several toxic metals,” including lead, were detected.
More than just lead: The study also found “measurable concentrations” of arsenic, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, strontium, vanadium, and zinc, too. “We detected all 16 metals in at least one sampled tampon, including some toxic metals like lead, that has no ‘safe’ exposure level,” the study says. Unfortunately, the study didn’t name which brands of tampons they researched, only noting that the tampons are available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Greece. The researchers pointed out “nonexistent” regulations in those countries don’t require companies to test their products for harmful chemicals or metals.
Et tu, organic tampons? The researchers discovered that levels of lead were higher in non-organic tampons, while levels of arsenic were higher in organic tampons. “No category had consistently lower concentrations of all or most metals,” the study says. This isn’t great news, since researchers also noted that the vagina has more permeable skin than other parts of the body. That skin allows it to absorb chemicals that “directly enter systemic circulation.”
DON’T PANIC: The University of California, Berkeley press release notes that “it’s unclear if the metals detected by this study are contributing to any negative health effects.” Christine Greves, M.D., an ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida, adds that you shouldn’t panic based on the results of one study. Dr. Alan agrees. “We are exposed to these metals every day and we even need some of these metals, like zinc, for our body to function,” she tells Women’s Health. It’s important to point out that even the study’s researchers tell tampon users “not to panic.”
More research is needed: Jenni Shearston, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, nots that “we do not yet know if metals can leach out of the tampon and whether they are absorbed by the body. We therefore cannot yet assess to what extent (if any) metals in tampons contribute to any health problems,” she tells Women’s Health. “We definitely need more research on this severely understudied area, especially because millions of people could be affected.”
Here’s where I’m struggling: how can the statement “no safe exposure level for lead,” coexist with “it’s unclear if the metals detected by this study are contributing to any negative health effects,” without one negating the other? Because that is what’s being communicated here. The critical issue seems to be whether the metals are leaching out of the tampons and making contact with our bodies. At this point, the researchers can’t conclusively determine if the metals are getting under our skin. So, what do we do in the interim? Cross our fingers and pray that the item we’re sticking in our vaginas isn’t also poisoning us? Or, heaven help us, are we to take a tip from Candy Spelling and resurrect the sanitary belt, pending more data?
Photos via Instagram/Tampax/Kotex/O.B.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcXBgaYRye9KtrJ2xj5u2r7DSmJ%2BemaaurK6x05qjrJeZo6y1rcyppqerj5fCtavIraqYrZ6Yuaat0Zign5eknbK6q8earZ6Xnpq0osDIr5yYoJWWubW0vp6dn52TqcBw