What do Indian cotton farmers, the average Polish woman and albatrosses off the coast of Hawaii have in common? Although hard to believe at first, they are all exposed to health-hazardous compounds used during the production, use and disposal of conventional tampons and pads.
What are you exposed to when using traditional intimate hygiene products?
Over her lifetime the average woman uses more than 100 kilograms of intimate hygiene products – about 20,000 tampons and pads. This represents only 0.5 percent of municipal waste by weight per person, but on a larger scale it is enormous. “Monthly in Poland 10 million women produce 150 million used sanitary pads; in a year they could line the entire equator nine times with them”[1].
Using standard tampons and pads, like most ready-made products available in supermarkets, harms the environment at both production and disposal stages. Traditional tampons and pads used by most women are not sterile, contain toxic chemicals and are therefore potentially dangerous to women's health. Let’s follow the “life” of a tampon or pad in terms of their impact on the female body and the natural environment.
One of the main materials used to make tampons and pads is conventionally grown cotton (as opposed to organic cotton). That means huge quantities of pesticides are used (estimated at about 11% of global pesticide use). For every kilo of cotton grown, about one third of a kilo of chemicals used as fertilizers is applied. Such cotton production inflicts unimaginable damage on local ecosystems – polluting water and soil, killing organisms in the soil and causing irreversible health damage among workers and local communities.
Another major ingredient in tampons and pads is synthetic rayon derived from cellulose — from trees and wood pulp. Production of this type of pulp is cited as a major source of environmental pollution.
Cotton- and cellulose-based tampons and pads are then bleached with chlorine and can contain so-called dioxins — highly carcinogenic and toxic chemical substances[2] that not only severely pollute the environment but also pose a major threat to women's health and lives. TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome) is a rare type of toxic blood infection (about 40 cases are reported annually in the UK)[3], occurring most often in women using tampons; harmful ingredients (chemicals such as furans and dioxins and pesticides used in cotton cultivation) can promote the growth of toxic bacteria.
Note that most additional chemical treatments applied to pads and tampons are useless from a hygiene standpoint. Changing the natural cotton colour of pads to snow-white through chlorine bleaching does not make them sterile, though it creates that impression. Standard pads and tampons are NOT sterile, so they contain various bacteria. Fragrances added to pads to mask unpleasant odour are unnecessary chemicals that contact the most sensitive parts of a woman's body. Tampons and pads also contain binding fibres, synthetic materials, surfactants and resins. Many women react allergically to chemicals used in pads and tampons. Chemical compounds also increase the risk of vaginal inflammation and infection. The plastic film used in pads as a top sheet and bottom liner (polyethylene or polypropylene), intended to prevent leaks, makes pads non-breathable and contributes to chafing[4]. Contact between polyethylene or polypropylene and mucous membranes creates an unfavorable bacterial flora that not only causes unpleasant odour but can also lead to infectious changes in female reproductive organs[5].
Given the practice of tampon and pad manufacturers who do not disclose chemical composition or production methods, we can never be sure that a purchased product is harmless to health. Considering the amount of chemicals and toxins used to make an average tampon and the sensitivity and absorbency of the vagina and vaginal walls, the impact of traditional “hygiene products” on health seems quite clear.
Disposal of products and their impact on the natural environment.
When disposed of properly, tampons and pads decompose mostly over several decades, but two billion pads discarded annually by Polish women alone release all the toxic substances used in their production as they break down. Paper packaging for hygiene products can be recycled. The situation is much worse for plastic parts of hygiene products (e.g., applicators, foil wrappers), which can take up to 300 years to decompose. The most damaging scenario for the environment is flushing these wastes down the toilet. Every year in the UK alone about half a billion sanitary pads enter the sea via sewage. “These small items enter the sea through the sewage system. When enough accumulate, they become a serious problem. Many marine animals — turtles, cetaceans, fish, birds — die after ingesting 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 items. Plastics also clog fishing nets, destroying them effectively because silt, pebbles and sand cannot pass through the mesh[6].” Small plastic fragments from personal hygiene products are particularly dangerous because when they fragment they become harder to remove, form sticky suspensions, and contribute to the depletion of many species of marine flora and fauna[7].
How to prevent health loss and environmental contamination?
A solution that protects both us and the planet is using eco-friendly intimate hygiene products such as reusable organic pads and tampons, tampon-sponges or biodegradable disposable pads that do not contain substances harmful to women's health, are made from mostly organic biodegradable materials and often save time and money.
However, if you use regular pads and tampons, remember:
- flushing tampons down the toilet not only wastes water and clogs sewage systems but also pollutes the environment – dispose of them in a bin,
- pads, because of their size and plastic and foil content, pollute the environment more than tampons,
- individually wrapped pads or tampons in plastic applicators are not any more sterile, so when possible choose products with less packaging,
- respect your health and nature – demand clear information from manufacturers about the composition and production processes of the items you 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
