Scary new report reveals tampons have 40x amount of toxic chemicals than the amount allowed in drinking water.
A consortium of environmental groups, including Pesticide Action Network UK, Women’s Environmental Network, and Pesticide Collaboration, have discovered extreme levels of glyphosate, a toxic pesticide linked to cancer, in tampons.
They claim glyphosate is often used to grow cotton and worry it directly enters the blood stream when used in tampons, which may lead to serious health risks.
Samples from 15 boxes of tampons across a number of brands from UK retailers were tested; one box still showed 0.004 mg/kg of glyphosate, 40 times the amount deemed safe for drinking water by the EU and the UK.
Despite this, the UK government has no current plans to address chemical exposure in menstrual products.
Officials from Pesticide Collaboration have expressed their concerns about why it is acceptable to find glyphosate in menstrual products if it is undrinkable.
Recent studies have also found that heavy metals like lead and arsenic are present in tampons.
