Menstrual hygiene products that millions of women rely on every month could contain harmful chemicals, an issue especially concerning given that vaginal skin absorbs chemicals quickly into bloodstream.
Metals could get into tampons via raw materials that absorb them from water, air or soil; or intentionally through manufacturing as whiteners, pigments or antibacterial agents.
Why Choose Hormone-Free Tampons?
Tampons provide safe, convenient menstrual protection to millions of women across 120 countries; however, they have been linked to toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a life-threatening condition caused by bacteria. While some manufacturers claim their organic tampons help prevent TTS, San Francisco Bay Area ob/gyn Jen Gunter advises SELF that organic is no safer than regular and suggests the best way to lower risk is choosing one with low absorbency which should be changed every four to six hours.
Organic tampons are often chosen by individuals as they don’t contain harsh chemicals that increase risk for TSS. Furthermore, when selecting organic products you are supporting farmers who work in harmony with nature versus working against it. Furthermore, they use less water and energy during growth so are better for the environment as a whole.
What is Hormone-Free Tampon Material?
Non-organic tampon brands often contain harmful pesticides and fragrances that may irritate your skin or the environment, potentially disrupting hormones or creating synthetic musks which also disrupt hormonal systems. Unfortunately, fragrance formulas remain secret; we know they contain phthalates (linked with hormone disruption) or synthetic musks which have similar effects.
Your vulva skin is highly permeable, which makes it more vulnerable to chemical absorption. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals may enter your bloodstream and cause problems like endometriosis and uterine fibroids that lead to serious health risks for women.
Conventional tampons are typically constructed from rayon that has been bleached from wood pulp, producing dioxin – an environmental pollutant linked to endocrine disruption and cancer. Organic tampons made from cotton grown without pesticides help avoid dioxin exposure while keeping their fresher for longer. Look for organic certification by either the Global Organic Textile Standard or USDA, including those without or with applicators and those BPA-free certification.
What are the Benefits of Hormone-Free Tampons?
Tampons may not get as much press or scrutiny as your clean skincare regimen, but they remain essential products for many women each month. While most of us tend to keep quiet about what type of tampon we choose, organic options could be worth exploring as alternatives.
Organic tampons offer many advantages over their nonorganic counterparts, including being free from hormone-disrupting elements like dioxin which have been linked to fertility and hormonal issues, and won’t contain trace amounts of harmful PFAS chemicals which have been linked to health problems like cancer and liver/kidney damage.
Not that organic cotton tampons pose less of a risk than their nonorganic counterparts, it is important to remember that using any kind of tampon poses some risk for TSS, depending on its absorbency and length in vagina. Therefore, when selecting the appropriate tampon for your flow it would be wiser to opt for one with lower absorbency as soon as possible and limit how long you keep it on for your flow duration – regardless of organic vs nonorganic content.
What are the Disadvantages of Hormone-Free Tampons?
An average women will use over 1100 tampons over their lifetime, which amounts to an enormous amount of plastic and chemicals that end up either in landfills or left on her vulva where it can cause irritation to skin cells or toxic shock syndrome (TSS).
But due to permeable tissue in the vulva, such materials pass right through without being processed and metabolized, making endocrine-disrupting chemicals in tampons, pads and liners especially hazardous.
Researchers conducted a comprehensive investigation of 30 tampons from 14 brands – both organic and nonorganic options as well as store brand and name brand products – with metal concentration levels differing depending on brand, location and method of insertion or removal of each tampon. They observed significant variation among them all.
Metal concentration differences were most striking between tampons made from cotton grown with pesticides or not, given their environmental impact as well as possible transferral to your body through use of conventional or organic tampons. Pesticides pose risks for drinking water sources as well as soil, so any exposure could end up entering drinking water sources via your body when inserting conventional or organic tampons into the vulva.
