Because the U.S. has been subjected to widespread regulatory capture by huge corporations. The majority of what’s on the shelves in an average American grocery store contains cancer-causing additives or pesticides.
Menstruating folks have been complaining about this (and having physical reactions to tampons) for decades and no one has done anything. Meanwhile, we keep getting cancer and other chronic illnesses from these exposures. Chemical corps should pay for all our healthcare.
True, always had an immediate reaction, even to the ones labelled organic and I thought something was wrong with me. Switched to the cup, no reactions.
Same. Tampons and pads, organic or non. Thank the stars I tolerate the cup just fine because it changed my life - so much less cramping too, which really makes you wonder wtf absorbing that shit for decades is doing to us.
If you think the tampon is the only absorbent thing in this convo- I have bad news for you sunshine. So endometriosis, irregular periods, infertility, and cancer- instead of helping you not mess your pants- it’s basically a pesticide suppository.
Modern medicine just effectively eradicated certain forms of cervical cancer with HPV in time for modern agriculture to poison women with carcinogenic tampons. Dammit.
"Future research is necessary to replicate our findings and determine whether metals can leach out of tampons and cross the vaginal epithelium into systemic circulation. Our findings point towards the need for regulations requiring the testing of metals in tampons by manufacturers. "
@motherjones.com needs to do better. I’m all for bringing capitalism to its knees, but scaremongering about “chemicals” and glyphosate is not the way to do it. The class of “probably carcinogenic” is vague, and effectively meaningless, but it gets clicks and blows up discussion threads. Use science.
Holy fuck I hate poorly conducted science. Do we even know if glysophate can be absorbed through the vagina? Are tampons made or packaged in a way that renders the chemical to be mostly inert? Is there a study that specifically links tampons with glysophate to cancer?
This is "not news" news. Tampons and pads, while mostly cotton, have absorptive chemicals in most of them. Maybe that's part of the reason ladies are asked not to flush sanitary products down the toilet.
Thank you for posting these resources. It really irks me when well-meaning lefties get suckered in by anti-science fearmongering. How often do we hear people say, “Don’t eat that, it’s got chemicals in it!”? We need to be more science literate so we’re not manipulated by charlatans and fearmongers.
Rat study with doses hundreds of times greater than what would be seen in any environment. Also, the study does not draw the conclusion that you're claiming.
The Mother Jones reported tampon contaminations were found in the UK, while the report you linked refers to tampons elsewhere. This looks like a "certain sources ought to be checked into" situation. It could be a problem of specific cotton sourcing.
Are these sources & studies funded by Johnson & Johnson who, FOR DECADES, knew that talcum powder was not only capable of migrating into and through the vagina into all the reproductive organs but remained there for years after tissue around it decomposed?
I guess the guidance my mother, a nurse, told me back in the '80s was wrong. There was no explosion of reproductive cancers traceable back to the '50s. I didn't read reports of the whistleblower who got cadaverous research. I must have delusions of ads for lawyers wanting in on class-action $.
So J&J didn't lose a huge B$ Talc lawsuit from independent research that went back decades showing that they'd lied, withheld their own research, sabotaged & blackballed independent scientists the lobbied for gov't protections as they quietly changed formula to cornstarch?!
Hunh!
That’s why before my hysterectomy I used the cup. My daughters will not use tampons. They also use the cup. Pads and tampons are full of chemicals. They don’t give a damn about us.
Gee, thanks, wish I knew this when I was using tampons my entire reproductive years. Women's health is not on the concern list for America. I'm so fucking sick of all things male, especially white male, are the most fucking important.
Ok so not all tampons contain pesticides. Great huh!? Good thing our government is firing all the people that test for this kinda shit. Consider organic feminine products is the recommendation. Which I had no idea they even existed.
Many women stop using bleached and chemical laced feminine products to find their horrible period symptoms and other “mysterious” symptoms disappear. Opting for the cup, flannel reusable washable snap pads, and organic unbleached natural fiber products return the balance of human flora.
Tru a cup seems like a good option, but what do I know? I don't even have periods/a vagina. I just want those who do to have good, safe, convenient options that are widely available for free.
Capitalistic healthcare premise- healthy citizens don't generate revenue. From the USDA food pyramid (why are the crop/livestock people making the human food 'rules'?) to seed oils to the EU banned ingredients in our food and personal/home care products, we are targets for inducing illness.
I have never been happier about my missing plumbing, and since I never wanted kids, still don't at age 51, I was never sad about the missing bits, or the missing periods in the first place...
$ talks and most companies are run by men. Look at testing for medication, it's done for & with men.
Women are called "bad drivers", especially when women have an accident in the morning after taken sleeping med the night B4, the meds go off quicker in men than women, plus women take the dose of men
Look @ seat belts, they're created for men not women. Women's breast get squashed, same w/mamograms. They'd never create a machine to squeeze the balls of men to look for male-related illnesses, but women's breast are squeezed to the point of pain & injuries etc. etc.
Hate 4 women goes on & on ...
Calm the f down. There is an entire science on biocompatibility for devices such as tampons. This article scare mongers. Sure we are continually learning of new risks and how to mitigate them but also there are those who’d love to steal away tampons from women in total.
Just half the population use them, why should we worry about that? I love that the same government that allows this is on a mission to get women to have more babies. The way to get women to have more babies is to care and support about women and babies. It’s pretty simple.
Maybe RFK Jr will weigh in: “If we introduce toxic pesticides into the vaginas of girls when they first start menstruating, they will build up protective antibodies and can be exposed continually into menopause”.
Either that, or Joni Ernst, “we’re all going to die anyway” factors in…
This why I have lost so much respect for men, especially american men. It would be illegal to show them how little i respect them but they absolutely deserve it.
Although FDA regulates tampons as medical devices, and "recommends" they be free of certain chemicals, including dioxins and pesticide residues, it *requires* neither testing for chemical contaminants nor ingredient disclosure on tampon labels, despite previous studies about heavy metals in tampons.
Researchers always seem to reveal the truth after a long time of use has passed. Like discovering micro plastics in bottled water. Kinda late, wouldn't you say researchers?
I agree totally. I just boil my city tap water and place it in a glass jug inside my fridge. Bottled water should only be used during natural disasters for the most part.
I just am cautious by boiling my water before putting it inside my fridge. On occasion the city does put a warning regarding our water. Best to just stay in the habit.
Big business don’t care about the consumer. It’s all about greed and the bottom line. It’s time it stopped. Maybe Luigi could do something about it? Maybe it’s time these people get what’s coming to them? I now have an immense hate for the 0.01%. They add no value to this earth. Rubbish humans.
Stop this fear mongering.
Glyphosate has not been linked to cancer in any meaningful sense.
It shares a highly disputed classification of "probable carcinogen" with basil.
Even if you think that the study showing an extremely weak correlation from exposure to huge quantities of glyphosate and one type of cancer is adequate proof of a link, these tampons would require tens of thousands of times higher concentration before any increase in risk.
Where is RFK Jr. proclaiming that tampons have more glyphosate in them than drinking water... as he licks the lid of a RoundUp bottle to proclaim it "safe" to drink.
“Why,” she asked sarcastically, “isn’t the EPA doing its job?”
Seriously, Republicans are ruining this country. We need to work now to assure they are not re-elected.
#NoMoreRepublicans
“Glyphosate, an herbicide linked to cancer, is also abundant in the United States.” —from the article
EPA used to wrestle with limiting its use, and assuring it was at least used in recommended quantities, but this regime has essentially closed the EPA.
💙👊
I recently heard of a study linking Parkinson's and proximity to golf courses due to heavy chemical use on those fields.
Important to use diapers and menstrual products made from organic cotton. Also, organic peanut butter because many peanuts are grown in rotation with cotton.
Only women will save the girls
stop using period products
leave trails of blood everywhere
Men hate women even when totally boxed up, nothing will stop their hate
Women need 2 go forward NGAF
go OFF guns blazing
Men R the reason humans will go extinct
Again - WHO hates women? The folks that don't test drugs on women. The states that deny healthcare for women. The men who agree that crimes against women aren't serious crimes. The Party of Death (GOP) hates women. So many people HATE women.
Women should 'Lysistrata' the shit out of the GOP.
It’s not hatred of women, it’s complete lack of conscience in pursuit of profit. I’m willing to bet there’s plenty of products for men out there that are also toxic as hell.
I’ll bet hair growth products, for example, are probably horrible for you. My point is that I highly doubt that somebody made the conscious decision to make tampons toxic specifically to hurt women.
Like I said several times before if you’re insisting that a company made the conscious decision to make toxic tampons for the express purpose of harming women you better have some hard evidence or stfu. Killing your customers is bad for business, anyway, but sure keep on thinking you’re a victim
I said nothing of the sort. However there is ample evidence that studies are done on things men use and effects on men far more often than the same for women. Pads are disgusting and also have chemicals. Cups are the way.
While I do believe there are plenty of products for everyone that are toxic, I am having a hard time thinking of products that are inserted internally and kept for hours at a time for a week every month for humans with penises.
It's a "whataboutism" to justify MAGA's continued disregard for women's safety. You know, the party that says that they care so much about women that they demonize trans people trying to live their lives, force births that could be dangerous, eliminate healthcare, etc. The "pro-lifers"
And the Republicans were still guilty of destroying women's healthcare. Please continue to tell me how MAGA and/or Republicans are not to blame for eliminating any and all regulations which will inevitably make things more unsafe for everyone let alone women.
I'm thinking your a man (by your profile) who has never shoved one of these up inside you for 50 years 10-20+ times every fucking month. We have 20 something women getting cancer that used to only hit women after 40 or 50.
Let me put pesticide up your ass every month for 50 years, ok.
So STFU.
And add Johnson & Johnson baby powder full of asbestos we springled on our baby daughters and ourselves for 50 years too! As a woman who did construction I poured that crap down my pants in the summer so I wouldn't get monkey butt. No wonder young women can't have babies or get old lady cancers!
It's not how many partners one has been with. Many, many men do not go to the doctor for basic yearly check ups and too many people still won't use condoms.
Women, in committed relationships with men will repeatedly come down with something only to find that it's their partner that reinfects them.
I have 10 left- I posted 8 around town 11’ high (stand on the pickup tailgate) on power poles. I use 4 on a pole when protesting & have other messages painted on the back.
While it's doubtlessly factually correct, what does it mean in practice? We're talking about parts per billion in water. A liter of water weighs the same as 1,000 tampons.
Considering the microscopic levels allowed in drinking water and the minimal weight of a tampon, is this meaningful?
Epidemiological studies have shown that glyphosate is absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes to produce neuromuscular symptoms. It increases the risk of abortion, has been related to chronic kidney diseases 1/2
2/2 Lab studies show several negative effects such as genotoxic effects, mutagenic effect, negative effects on estrogen-regulated gene expression, changes in the structure and functioning of cells and cytotoxicity in human cells
That is ... not a high quality article. I checked out the 2nd ref, it's a survey asking farming women to recall miscarriages (early may not even be known) and includes about 20 herbicides. It's associational and has a bunch of issues too. Etc.
Just linking a study isn't enough, you need to read it.
It probably isn't, but that's not a reassuring sentiment. The entire point of the article is that there is no regulation over the possible or intentional contamination of feminine hygiene products. More study is needed, but that doesn't mean that we should wait for regulations until then.
Doesn't surprise me there's always been an attack on women's health it took them years and years and years and years to discover a disease women have had all along that causes 10% of all women to be sterile it's called endometriosis they didn't even start until the 90s to figure it out
Plus even after acknowledging Endo as an actual disease, it still takes anywhere from 4-11 years to receive a correct diagnosis. (It was about eight years for me!)
U.S. spending between 2019-2023...
...for erectile dysfunction (ED) = $1.2 billion
...for endometriosis research = $44 million
I'm not automatically discounting this article, as I have some feelings about the fact that the cotton in tampons (not to mention the plastics in some menstrual cups...even silicone ones) do get contaminants, but this doesn't actually chart with how this chemical interacts with the environment.
The bigger issue is that it's theorized that the glyphosate was found on cotton because of the use in farming. Anything with "Roundup ready" cotton.
And now the chemical is becoming useless, potentially. Just a people killer, not weed killer. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=101728
There is zero evidence that trace amounts of glyphosate in tampons has ever harmed even one woman. Maybe don’t rely on Mother Jones for your science information.
lmfao, Logical fallacy???????? Says the fucking spam poster who put the same comment in the thread at least 20 times. then you are now apparently defending a corporation for free......... so are you a paid spam bot or are you just fucking stupid?
Right?Or some actionable way to do our own research?Most products don’t give the origin story of the cotton & other components, & with the rapidity of deregulation of consumer protections in this country, we’ll just have to wait for the infomercials informing us we “may be entitled to compensation.”
Are you kidding the ancient Greeks worship women they were the ones who controlled everything they're the ones who determined who was going to be born and who wasn't. You need to look back further
How they reacted is very telling of how tolerate they really are to their mothers ruling; Answer is not at all. You cannot ask for equality from such unreasonable men. We need to go back to Turtle Island laws for the mothers of this land. No more men voting or owning land. They will just abuse it.
European men don't even know what matriarchy looks like. They couldn't recognize it if they saw it and they falsely call matriarchies when its just women have a tiny say in something irrelevant. When they came to Turtle Island they committed genocide agaisnt many matriarchies. Ex. Iroquois & Hopi
This is horrific. Women unknowingly exposing themselves to chemicals that will imperil health.
Studies have shown that exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides can impair fertility and cause adverse reproductive outcomes in both animals and humans.
Is this the cause of the fertility crisis?
I think you're correct despite the obvious differences in methods of use between food and tampons. But the concern is not so much the presence of Glyphosate, as it is both of a lack of a suitable regulatory framework for period products and the worrying trends surronding chemicals and microplastics
Agreed but the article you shared does not really address the concern. The MJ headline is misleading and meant to grab attention. But the article referenced by MJ makes it clear that this is about the lack of a robust regulatory body for period products and cotton supply issues. Not the chem itself.
TY...so did we use all these pesticides or worse during the 60s...cuz that's when i came of age and used tampons...never heard a peep in press as per that issue...i guess women to be sure should wear pads that don't actually penetrate any tissue...
That means that all the manufacturers of tampons should be held liable since they obviously make the product and the population was exposed whether they knew it or not!👺😱
Not saying this is a good thing or that the limits shouldn't be lower, but you'd have to eat ~9 tons of tampons a day to reach the "acceptable daily intake" as regulated in the EU (30 t in the US).
It IS disturbing that these chemicals are all around us, but the concentrations are extremely low. Even if the science is off by orders of magnitude it should still be ok.
Since the introduction of roundup ready cotton in the 90s, pretty much every cotton product contains small amounts of glyphosate. Same for corn, beets for sugar, and soy products.
My county does this, knowing that Roundup has class action lawsuits against it right now for causing blood cancer. Our hardware stores sell Roundup. Some of my neighbors buy and use Roundup. Even when not on farmland, I am unable to escape this poisonous chemical. Corporations are sinister.
Cotton is prone to pests. However, in the USA, Roundup(having chemicals in it known to cause cancer)is used everywhere! My county sprays Roundup in the ditches on the sides of our roads so they do not need to mow the grass. They spray poison in our water runoff system to avoid the cost of mowing.
But you would think that these tampon manufacturers would be able to clean any kind of pesticides or impurities off of this cotton prior to manufacturing the plug of the tampon with it.
They already struggle with the amount of water used to grow cotton. It would probably be more cost-effective to grow the cotton organically than to somehow rinse off chemicals (if they can be rinsed) & then dry the cotton. The most cost-effective way is to poison women and settle lawsuits. They suck
Glyphosate is pretty much Round Up (not all Round Up, but close enough). To me, buying organic means no Round Up, and that’s not just good for me, it’s good for the people who pick the food, and for bees and bugs. If you want to do something about glyphosate, buy organic—no Round Up.
Toxic shock syndrome is very real. They will probably ignore this as they do other real dangers and focus on gaslighting people instead of solving problems.
I stopped using them after I heard about this... I was unusually bulky once a month, but I was okay!! I wasn't going to die for convenience... Now I'm faced with a government who could care less and are using whatever means necessary to kill me!!
Glyphosphate wasn’t linked to cancer by the vast majority of toxicology expert organizations around the world, it was linked by a jury trial of non-experts and one regulatory organization who used discredited data.
I don't know what this claim means.
It could mean that our water standards are extreme.
I get that you're trying to say tampons are too toxic.
But the "40 times" feel like a rhetorical trick.
Do I wanna read something that's trying to trick me?
Comments
https://environmentaldefence.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Whats-In-Your-Lunch-Glyphosate-Report-Sept-2018.pdf
https://bsky.app/profile/gidmk.bsky.social/post/3lqlxiuqhsc2p
That stuff literally is what we call Agent Orange here to end everything that lives before planting crops
Are they actually trying to murder people long term with this?
💯
It really is best to buy natural menstrual sponges that can be washed and reused.
https://www.pomerix.com/pesticides/ethyl-methyl-parathion-6-3-spray
Oh well.
Pls help by reposting/donating so they won't end up in the streets!
Paypal: http://paypal.me/NasraFamily
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/nasrahassan
GFM: https://gofund.me/754592a5
https://bsky.app/profile/akekmest.bsky.social/post/3lpocbjkhqk2x
Think I'll read that study.
https://www.pan-uk.org/period-products/
Never mind, it involves women's health.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JFfReMN2MyI&pp=ygUNbGF1cmVuIHdhc3NlctIHCQmwCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
This has been studied extensively.
SCIENTIFIC BODIES conclude this is not a risk.
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/06/06/glyphosate-tainted-tampons-threaten-public-health-4-pesticide-safety-agencies-say-no/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9101768/#sec6-ijms-23-04605
a neurotoxin
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9101768/
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html
Hunh!
Thanks for that info.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JFfReMN2MyI&pp=ygUNbGF1cmVuIHdhc3NlctIHCQmwCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
Women are called "bad drivers", especially when women have an accident in the morning after taken sleeping med the night B4, the meds go off quicker in men than women, plus women take the dose of men
Hate 4 women goes on & on ...
Want to split hairs?
This has to do with toxins in tampons.
Go and gaslight elsewhere dude.
For attention? Or what is your game?
I remember the whole toxic shock syndrome scandal back in the 70s and 80s. Has no progress been made since then?
Justice for all of our bodies, like wtf, world..
Either that, or Joni Ernst, “we’re all going to die anyway” factors in…
Govt: you say that like it's a bad thing.
Fml, enough
PS-some of you dummies are spraying it on yourselves and inhaling the mist. Read the warning labels.
Why do you boil? Is your water source iffy?
Glyphosate has not been linked to cancer in any meaningful sense.
It shares a highly disputed classification of "probable carcinogen" with basil.
This is horrendous!
Where is RFK Jr. proclaiming that tampons have more glyphosate in them than drinking water... as he licks the lid of a RoundUp bottle to proclaim it "safe" to drink.
Won't help women, just wants info on tampons.
Do one for period cups now please
Seriously, Republicans are ruining this country. We need to work now to assure they are not re-elected.
#NoMoreRepublicans
EPA used to wrestle with limiting its use, and assuring it was at least used in recommended quantities, but this regime has essentially closed the EPA.
💙👊
Important to use diapers and menstrual products made from organic cotton. Also, organic peanut butter because many peanuts are grown in rotation with cotton.
stop using period products
leave trails of blood everywhere
Men hate women even when totally boxed up, nothing will stop their hate
Women need 2 go forward NGAF
go OFF guns blazing
Men R the reason humans will go extinct
It depends on how the pesticides are bound in the material and how easily they are transferred into our body.
Everyone knows Democrats and Communists are the dummies, dummy.
Draw your little pictures and leave the thinking to smarter people.
Women should 'Lysistrata' the shit out of the GOP.
So if the system routinely punishes, abuses, and neglects women then that is its purpose, and maintaining that status quo requires hating women.
And yes bad things do happen to men. One must note the disproportionate scale though.
No, this is a profit engine that greases its wheels with our blood
My god this is fucking disgusting
I only used cloth, washable pads & a menstrual cup (until my hysterectomy).
Ladies, don't poison yourselves vaginally. Use pads.
Let me put pesticide up your ass every month for 50 years, ok.
So STFU.
https://www.pomerix.com/pesticides/ethyl-methyl-parathion-6-3-spray
Women, in committed relationships with men will repeatedly come down with something only to find that it's their partner that reinfects them.
Every effing REPUBLICAN!!!!
Drop the MAGA- they are the GOP.
Considering the microscopic levels allowed in drinking water and the minimal weight of a tampon, is this meaningful?
Is this a case of "it sounds bad therefore it is the worst possible thing"?
I don't trust Monsanto, but the independent research on toxicology finds that the levels even in vitro need to be very high.
• Can it be absorbed?
• Is it tightly bound to the fiber, or is it available to be absorbed?
It's not like the surface of the cotton has been sprayed. The plants take it up internally through the soil as they grow. It's inside the fibers.
MORE→
Reading about glyphosate in food, it says that cooking breaks it down. I wonder if autoclaving the cotton would do the same?
Just linking a study isn't enough, you need to read it.
Who would guess that Republicans' biggest victim of safety deregulation would be women?
Oh, right! Absolutely fucking everyone
U.S. spending between 2019-2023...
...for erectile dysfunction (ED) = $1.2 billion
...for endometriosis research = $44 million
And now the chemical is becoming useless, potentially. Just a people killer, not weed killer.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=101728
Barnhardt considers 10x that amount "none detected." And they "claim" to be "purified cotton. https://barnhardt.net/glyphosate-cotton-fibers/
Ger familiar with women who survived & are doing research on alternatives.
If you don't die, you lose limbs.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JFfReMN2MyI&pp=ygUNbGF1cmVuIHdhc3NlctIHCQmwCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
They weren't even allowed to vote.
Learn history rather than making it up.
The ancient Greeks were far from progressive.
Studies have shown that exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides can impair fertility and cause adverse reproductive outcomes in both animals and humans.
Is this the cause of the fertility crisis?
It takes some getting used to, but it's a good alternative to tampons. It pays for itself after a few cycles.
For fuck sake women are NOT valued. Reproductive health is NOT valued!
You can bet it's in pads as well!
https://www.consumernotice.org/environmental/pesticides/glyphosate-in-food/
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/06/06/glyphosate-tainted-tampons-threaten-public-health-4-pesticide-safety-agencies-say-no/
Toxic and dangerous and not one person who created it was woman or had female genitals.
My head…
"Lead concentrations were higher in non-organic tampons but arsenic was higher in organic tampons."
Never ever ever ever NO. I even told my sisters to stop using them immediately.
Does it kill the crotch critters?
Oh, how the mighty American dollar makes people lose their ethics and humanity.
And dealing with industrial scale.concentrate is a different beast than the RTU bottles at Lowe's.
It could mean that our water standards are extreme.
I get that you're trying to say tampons are too toxic.
But the "40 times" feel like a rhetorical trick.
Do I wanna read something that's trying to trick me?