- Over 100 million cisgender women in over 120 countries use tampons during their menstrual cycle.
- Most tampons are made from cotton and/or rayon, both of which are made from plants that may be exposed to heavy metal contamination in the soil.
- A new study conducted by researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health has identified the presence of 16 different heavy metals in tampons from 14 different brands purchased in the U.S. and the U.K.
Researchers estimate that
Tampons are generally considered safe and healthy menstrual products. Women who use tampons may increase their risk for toxic shock syndrome if they use them incorrectly or leave them in longer than recommended.
Most tampons contain fabrics made from the natural fiber cotton and/or rayon — a man-made fabric made from cellulose fibers of certain natural plants.
The
Now, a new study conducted by researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health has identified the presence of 16 different heavy metals in tampons from 14 different brands purchased in the U.S. and the U.K.
The study was recently published in the journal Environment International.
For this study, researchers evaluated levels of 16 heavy metals — arsenic, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, nickel, lead, selenium, strontium, vanadium, and zinc — in 30 tampons from 14 tampon brands and 18 product lines.
At the study’s conclusion, scientists found measurable concentrations of all 16 heavy metals tested for.
“We did find all 16 metals we tested for in at least one tampon, but we didn’t find all 16 metals in all of the tampons,” Jenni A. Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management, and lead author of this study explained to Medical News Today. “However, we did find lead in 100% of the tampons we tested — this was really surprising to me.”
Shearston’s team also compared the heavy metal concentrations between where the tampons were purchased — the U.S. or U.K. — as well as store-brand vs. name-brand and organic vs. non-organic.
Researchers reported that no specific category had consistently lower amounts of all or most metals.
They did find that non-organic tampons had the highest concentration of lead, and organic tampons had the highest amount of arsenic.
“I thought these differences were really interesting, and they might be driven in part by the fact that the organic tampons we tested were made of 100% cotton,” Shearston said. “However, I couldn’t make a recommendation on whether or not one type of tampon is safer than another, because first, we need to understand which metals can leach out of the tampons.”
In this study, Shearston and her team tested tampons from a variety of manufacturers, including top sellers on a major online retailer and store-brand tampons. So how can readers determine which is the safest tampon to use?
Although the researchers did not disclose the brands they tested, Shearston advised readers to understand the consistency of the study’s results.
“We found metals present in all the tampons we tested, regardless of brand, organic or not, name brand, or store brand,’ she continued. “This really underscores how important it is to continue studying tampons and menstrual products.”
MNT also spoke with Lydia Jahl, PhD, senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute, about this study who said consumers should reach out to their favorite tampon brand to see if they do testing for toxic metals in their tampons, and select tampons that have the lowest levels of toxic metals and other harmful chemicals.
“Unfortunately, the results of this study did not show meaningful differences across all metals between organic/non-organic and name-brand/store-brand, so those characteristics cannot be used to choose safer tampons,” Jahl continued.
“People who menstruate could also look into alternative menstrual products such as pads, menstrual underwear, or menstrual cups, though these categories can also contain harmful additives like
MNT also spoke with Sherry Ross, MD, a board certified OB/GYN and Women’s Health Expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, about this study.
Ross commented she found this to be an impressive study discussing the ongoing concerns of how safe tampons are for the millions of users inserting these foreign objects into the vagina monthly.
“Women are becoming more invested in their health and wellness and always looking for ways to (be more) preventative in avoiding common medical complications associated with aging,” she continued. “This study highlights the 16 metals found in tampons which may be associated with medical complications including
“There should be transparency with everyday feminine products and associated health risks. Women should be able to make decisions on their health based on reliable medical research. More research is needed to determine how to quantify these known metals in tampons and understand what amounts could be detrimental or unhealthy to the person using them. It is also a call to action for tampon manufacturers to create safer guidelines made for everyday use by people.”
— Sherry Ross, MD
Jahl agreed that more research is needed:
“On a scientific level, more research should focus on how much toxic metals in tampons are able to be absorbed by the body. Further research on other harmful chemicals in tampons should also be completed. But what’s really needed is research into how to make these products without toxic metals or other harmful additives. Companies should study possible contamination of the cotton and other materials in their tampons, but first of all, they should not be purposefully adding toxic metals and other harmful chemicals into tampons.”