The Environmental and Health Impact of Feminine Hygiene Products

I have used cloth nappies on all my children, including my first who was born when I was a teenager.  When pregnant with my fifth, I discovered to my horror that menstrual pads and tampons don’t biodegrade.  It had simply never occurred to me that they wouldn’t.  All the time I thought I was doing my bit for the environment by putting cloth on my children, I was using products on myself that would burden landfill sites. 

My period returned when my son was 9 months old and I was determined that would be the last one in plastic. 

Environmental Concerns

The ‘stay dry top weave’ cover on menstrual pads is basically plastic with tiny holes in to allow the blood to pass through into the core.  Tampon applicators are also made of plastic.  This doesn’t break down and the only option is to bury it in a landfill.  If a woman disposes of it in the toilet it can end up in the sea, polluting our beaches, and it can be dangerous to wildlife, destroying fish populations. 

If they are incinerated then this releases dioxins into the air which are toxic and can cause cancers and other conditions.   This pollution and waste is generated by developed countries, as women in third world countries do not normally have access to disposable menstrual products.

Scandalously, tampon manufacturers are giving free tampons away to these women, when they don’t have access to landfill sites, forcing them to incinerate them and putting them at risk from air borne chemicals.

The average woman uses a staggering 10,000 disposable menstrual products in her lifetime, and according to Natracare Organic Pads, ‘Every year, in Britain alone, we would need to dig a hole 300 feet wide and 300 feet deep to bury the used sanitary pads and tampons that women throw away.’

The wood pulp used to make pads and tampons is also produced by felling whole forests and pulping the trees, which destroys animal habitats, ruins the landscape and causes soil erosion.  Only organic disposables are produced from ethically managed forests, and only reusable items have no forestry impact at all.

Health Concerns

The plastics in pads can cause irritation, itching, thrush infections and other vulval health problems.  Many gynaecologists, including mine, recommend that women only use sanitary wear which is organic and free of plastics.  Both pads and tampons are bleached.  All shop bought tampons are made with wood pulp and bleach, known as rayon, and this man-made fibre is toxic.  It releases dioxins which are poisonous and can cause fertility problems like endometriosis. According to the study 'Environmental Dioxins And Endometriosis', Toxicological Sciences 70, 161-170 (2002):

'Previous work in non-human primates has shown that exposure to dioxin..is associated with an increased prevalence and severity of endometriosis', and 'rodent studies support the plausibility for a role of environmental contaminants in the pathophysiology of endometriosis.'

Simply put, animals who are exposed to dioxins develop endometriosis, and scientists think this is why a once unheard of disease is now ravaging so many women.

Another study, 'Dioxin Concentrations In Women With Endometriosis', Human Reproduction 12: 373-375, (1997) found that infertile women with endometriosis had detectable levels of dioxin present in their bodies, unlike fertile women without endometriosis.

 The rayon is also abrasive and can cut into the vagina and cervix, causing more bleeding.

Toxic Shock Syndrome

Most women assume that tampons are sterile, but they’re not.  Any object placed inside the body for any prolonged amount of time is an infection risk.  Tampon manufacturer’s say that to make them sterile would make them ‘too expensive.’  The vaginal environment can be ideal for germs and Staphylococcus Aureus can grow on the tampon, causing toxic shock syndrome, which can kill. 

Jenny Kilvert lost her 15 year old daughter Alice to tampon related toxic shock in 1991, and was kind enough to talk to me about her daughter:

‘Alice's symptoms were initially very mild and did not cause any undue concern. On the Sunday prior to her death she complained of a headache which persisted, but eased with aspirin. During Sunday evening she was able to watch television, but she was sick during the night. Although very pale on Monday morning, she went to school in order to start her mock GCSE exams, but was taken home as she appeared to be developing influenza.. Alice went straight to bed and by tea time she had a slight temperature. At 7pm she was alert enough to talk about the early evening TV she had missed, but by 10pm she seemed vague and confused and a little faint.

The next morning Alice's breathing was shallow and she had a higher temperature, so the emergency doctor was called. The doctor phoned for an ambulance for Alice to be taken to hospital, but when the ambulance staff tested for blood pressure, it was so low it hardly registered. She arrived at hospital at 9am and her condition was diagnosed as either TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME or meningitis, and treatment began. She was taken into Intensive Care and put onto a ventilator as her breathing was giving cause for concern. However, the strain on her heart brought on two cardiac arrests. She did not recover from the second one and died at 1pm.

Alice was a bubbly, interesting, normal teenager. She was doing very well at school where she was very popular with pupils and teachers alike. She was concerned about Third World issues and had just joined Amnesty International. Her ambition was to be the first woman Secretary General of the United Nations.

I had heard of TSS before Alice died, but believed it to be very, very rare. I didn't know about the symptoms though.

It's hard to describe what impact her death had on our family and friends. I suppose it was no different to any other family that loses a loved one. We were devastated. There was a big hole that couldn't be filled. We were "shell-shocked", had great heartache and angry with the tampon manufacturers who had taken her away from us. Alice used to go shopping with me in Manchester on Saturday mornings so I felt like my best mate had gone too. You do get used to there only being 3 instead of 4, but I will never get over the overwhelming feeling of grief when I think about her. I cried a lot and I still do.

The campaign to alert others about the dangers of tampons has been therapeutic and helped us to come to terms with her loss. We formed a committee and our first aim was to get the tampon manufacturers to place a warning on tampon packs like the warning on US tampon packs. This was successful. We produced information leaflets and an information video. Both have been widely distributed. We approached MPs to get a Tampon Safety Bill, but it was decided that the tampon manufacturers could regulate themselves. However, they did draw up an improved Code of Practice. We also took it to the European Parliament where a compromise agreement was reached. We discovered that there were quite a few research papers about Toxic Shock Syndrome and used these to best advantage, dispelling the myths about the "forgotten" tampon. We organised conferences, declared an International Tampon Alert Day (8th June each year) which later developed into a National Tampon Alert Week with various events supported by Health Promotion Units and the University students.’

You may think it is rare, but in the last ten years, 22 girls or women have died as a result of tampon related TSS and lots more have suffered permanent illness or disability because of it.  The youngest girl ever to die of tampon related TSS in Britain was 13 year old Kayleigh Ann Jones, who died in 1999.

TSS can also cause loss of fingers and toes from gangrene, kidney and liver damage, peeling skin, loss of hair and nails, continual infections, short term memory loss, psychological and emotional distress, and no energy for months or even years.

How to Reduce The Risk

The only way to eliminate the risk of tampon related TSS is to NOT use tampons.

If you do, choose only organic tampons made with 100% cotton.

Do not use super absorbency tampons, as these have more rayon in them and have a higher risk of TSS developing.

Do not use tampons overnight, and not for more than 4-6 hours, although TSS has developed after only two hours of tampon use.

Use washable pads, which have no risk, or alternative devices such as the sea sponge or mooncup.