What do Indian cotton farmers, the average Polish woman and albatrosses living off the coast of Hawaii have in common? Although it may be hard to believe at first, all of them are exposed to health‑threatening substances used during the production, use and disposal of conventional tampons and pads.
What are you exposed to when you use conventional intimate hygiene products?
Over the course of her life, the average woman uses more than 100 kilograms of intimate hygiene products – around 20,000 tampons and pads. This accounts for only 0.5 percent of individual waste, but on a larger scale it is an enormous amount. “Each month in Poland, 10 million women produce 150 million used sanitary pads; after a year, they could use them to cover the Earth’s equator nine times over”[1].
Using standard tampons and pads, like most ready-made products we can buy in the supermarket, has a negative impact on the environment, both at the production stage and during disposal. Traditional tampons and pads used by most women are non‑sterile, full of toxic chemicals and therefore potentially hazardous to women’s health. Let’s trace the “life cycle” of a tampon or pad in terms of its impact on a woman’s body and on the natural environment.
One of the basic materials used in the production of tampons and pads is conventionally grown cotton (as opposed to organic cotton). This means that huge amounts of pesticides are used in its production (it is estimated that around 11% of global pesticide use goes to cotton). During cultivation, for every kilo of cotton, about one-third of a kilo of chemicals is used as fertiliser. Such cotton production causes unimaginable damage to the local ecosystem – it pollutes water and soil, kills organisms living in the ground and inflicts irreversible health damage on farm workers and the local community.
The next most common components of tampons and pads are rayon, derived from cellulose (i.e. wood), and paper pulp. The production of this type of paper is listed as one of the main sources of environmental pollution.
Tampons and pads made from such cotton and cellulose are then bleached with chlorine and may contain so‑called dioxins – highly carcinogenic and toxic chemicals[2] that not only seriously pollute the environment but also pose a huge threat to women’s health and lives. TSS, or Toxic Shock Syndrome, is a rare type of toxic blood infection (around 40 cases a year are recorded in the UK)[3], occurring most often among women who use tampons whose harmful composition (chemicals such as furans and dioxins, and pesticides used in cotton cultivation) promotes the growth of toxic bacteria.
Let’s note that most of the subsequent chemical treatments used on pads and tampons are pointless from a hygiene perspective. Changing the natural cotton colour of pads to snow white through chlorination does not in any way make them sterile, even though it creates that impression. Standard pads and tampons are NOT sterile, so they contain various types of bacteria. Fragrances added to pads to mask unpleasant odours are also unnecessary chemicals that come into contact with the most sensitive parts of a woman’s body. In addition, the production of tampons and pads involves, among other things, extra bonding fibres, synthetic materials, surfactants – surface‑active agents – and resins. Many women experience allergic reactions to pads and tampons precisely because of the chemicals used in them. These chemical compounds also increase the risk of vaginal inflammation and infections. The film used in pads as the top sheet and backing (polyethylene or polypropylene), which is meant to prevent leaking, makes pads non‑breathable and contributes to chafing[4]. As a result of contact between polyethylene or polypropylene and the mucous membrane, an unfavourable bacterial flora develops, which is not only a source of unpleasant odour but can also cause infectious changes in women’s reproductive organs[5].
Given the practices of companies that produce tampons and pads, which do not provide information on their chemical composition or manufacturing methods, we can never be sure that the product we buy is harmless to our health. However, considering the amount of chemicals and toxins used in the production of an average tampon, as well as the sensitivity and absorbency of the vagina and vaginal walls, the impact of conventional “hygiene products” on health seems fairly obvious.
Product disposal and its impact on the natural environment.
Properly disposed of, tampons and pads decompose for the most part within several decades; however, the two billion pads thrown away every year by Polish women alone release all the toxic substances used in their production as they break down. The paper packaging of hygiene products can be recycled. The situation looks much worse for the plastic components of hygiene products (e.g. applicators, foil wrappers), which can take up to 300 years to decompose. The most harmful scenario for the environment is flushing this type of waste down the toilet. Every year in the UK alone, around half a billion sanitary pads end up in the sea via the sewage system. “These small items reach the sea through the sewage system. Once enough of them accumulate, they become a serious problem. Many marine animals – turtles, whales, fish, birds – die after poisoning themselves by swallowing these items. According to estimates by BBC Wildlife Magazine, 2 million birds and 100,000 marine mammals die each year directly as a result of ingesting plastic or becoming entangled in plastic elements. Plastics also end up in fishing nets, effectively destroying them, because silt, pebbles and sand can no longer pass through the mesh[6].” Small pieces of plastic from personal hygiene products are particularly dangerous because, as they break down into tiny fragments that are harder to remove, they form a sticky suspension and contribute to the depletion of many marine animal and plant species[7].
How can we prevent damage to our health and contamination of the environment?
A solution that protects both us and our planet is to use eco-friendly intimate hygiene products such as reusable organic pads and tampons, sponge tampons, or biodegradable disposable pads that do not contain substances harmful to women’s health, are made mostly from eco-friendly, biodegradable materials, and often help save both time and money.
However, if we use regular pads and tampons, let’s remember:
- flushing tampons down the toilet not only wastes water and clogs the plumbing, but also pollutes the environment – so always throw them in the bin instead,
- pads, due to their size and plastic and film content, pollute the environment more than tampons,
- individually wrapped pads or tampons in plastic applicators are not necessarily more sterile, so if we have the option, it's better to buy the "less-packaged" ones,
- let's respect our health and nature – demand transparent information from producers about the composition and production process of the things we buy.
Based on an article from http://ekokobieta.blogspot.com
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[1] http://www.tabita.com.pl/srodowisko.php
[2] http://www.miesiaczka.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=33
[3] http://www.virtuela.com/TSS.htm
[4] http://www.miesiaczka.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=23
[5] http://www.tabita.com.pl/zdrowie.php
[6] http://zb.eco.pl/bzb/32/rozdz8.htm
[7] See “Earth from Above”, dir. Xavier Levebvre, Pascal Plisson, 2009
