Tampon study finds arsenic and lead in many popular brands
Tampon study finds arsenic and lead in many popular brands
New study shows more than a dozen metals found in popular tampons in US and Europe
A new study has found that popular brands of tampons used by millions of people contain toxic heavy metals such as arsenic and lead.
Researchers from UC Berkeley and Columbia tested a range of tampons currently on sale across the US and Europe for a study published in the journal Environmental International.
What the key findings of the study?
Scientists measured the levels of 16 heavy metals in 30 tampons from 14 brands - however none of the brands were named in the published research.
The research found that:
metals were present in all types of tampons - no category had consistently lower concentrations of all or most metals.
Lead concentrations were higher in non-organic tampons
Arsenic was higher in organic tampons
Metal concentrations varied by where the tampons were purchased (US vs EU/UK), organic versus non-organic and store vs name-brand.
Metals found included: arsenic, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, nickel, lead, selenium, strontium, vanadium, and zinc.
The highest concentration was found for zinc.
The full paper is available here.
Why is exposure to metals in tampons dangerous?
Tampons are of particular concern as a potential source of exposure to chemicals, including metals, because the skin of the vagina has a higher potential for chemical absorption than skin elsewhere on the body.
Exposure is also likely to take place for extended periods of time since tampons are typically used for several hours at a time across multiple days of a month. And since 50–80% of those who menstruate use tampons the number of people exposed is high.
“Despite this large potential for public health concern, very little research has been done to measure chemicals in tampons,” said lead author Jenni A. Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management.
“To our knowledge, this is the first paper to measure metals in tampons. Concerningly, we found concentrations of all metals we tested for, including toxic metals like arsenic and lead.”
Metals have been found to increase the risk of dementia, infertility, diabetes, and cancer. They can damage the liver, kidneys, and brain, as well as the cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems. In addition, metals can harm maternal health and fetal development.
“Although toxic metals are ubiquitous and we are exposed to low levels at any given time, our study clearly shows that metals are also present in menstrual products, and that women might be at higher risk for exposure using these products,” said study co-author Kathrin Schilling, assistant professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Why are metals in tampons?
The researchers explain that metals could make their way into tampons a number of ways:
Unintentionally: The cotton material could have absorbed the metals from water, air, soil, through a nearby contaminant (for example, if a cotton field was near a lead smelter)
Intentionally: during manufacturing as part of a pigment, whitener, antibacterial agent, or some other process in the factory producing the products.
Why is metal content not disclosed?
In general, regulations in the US, EU, and UK protecting consumers from potential contaminants in tampons are nearly nonexistent, and none of these governments requires manufacturers to test their products for harmful chemicals, including metals.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies tampons as medical devices and regulates their safety (Kwak et al., 2019). However, there is no requirement to test tampons for chemical contaminants, and the FDA only recommends that tampons not contain two dioxin compounds or pesticide residues (United States Food and Drug Administration, 2005).
In the EU, tampons are regulated under the General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC) (Kwak et al., 2019) and follow a code of “good practice” developed by the tampon manufacturing industry (Ms. Jourova on behalf of the Commission, 2016). This code similarly does not require testing for chemicals (Absorbent Hygiene Products Working Group of EDANA, 2020).
In the UK, tampons are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, which requires that “no producer shall place a product on the market unless the product is safe” and that consumers are provided with enough information to “assess the risks inherent in a product” (The General Product Safety Regulations, 2005).
However, there is some requirement to list ingredients. With Zinc as an example, the researchers shared that none of the packaging of the tampons assessed listed Zinc as an ingredient, including the tampons purchased in New York, which requires tampon manufacturers to list ingredients in tampons sold in the state of New York (Menstrual product labeling, 2020).
What next?
This is likely the first study to assess concentrations of metals in tampons. Future research is now needed to replicate the findings and also to determine whether metals do leach out of tampons and cross into the body via the vaginal walls. For the moment, it’s unclear whether metals detected in the study do contributed to negative health effects.
“I really hope that manufacturers are required to test their products for metals, especially for toxic metals,” continued lead author Jenni Shearston.
“It would be exciting to see the public call for this, or to ask for better labeling on tampons and other menstrual products.”