Your thoughts on tampons & dioxin

Hi there

we all know someone who just has to send you letters about the latest viruses & scams & what not. Oof course, the letters themselves are pure bunk.

So today I get a letter screaming that tampons are full of dioxin & rayon, leading to toxic shock syndrome, cervical cancer, and painful, ugly death. We are advised to use only unbleached cotton tampons, such as those made by Terra Femme.

The letter almost certainly originated at Terra Femme, who specialize in scare tactics to sell their high priced products. I am wildly offended by such base behaviour. View Tera Femme’s site

I immediately began to search for info to refute this and ran across some conflicting claims. What do you think of about all this?

Here is a Forbes article detailing Terra Femme’s claims - they point out that the FDA says that no US tampon maker uses a bleaching method that produces dioxin. Trace Dioxin is widely detectable becuse it is a common substance, and can even be found of the “pure” Terra Femme tampons.

However, I have some doubts about the reliability of this article because it goes on to state that dioxin is almost certainly not cancerous, and that the men exposed to Agent Orange, are as a group perfectly healthy.

I though Agent Orange (which contained dioxin) was wildly toxic? Certainly folks exposed to it say so.

Is dioxin dangerous? - what about the EPA’s poisiton that it’s something folks should be warned about?

I’m still inclined to dismiss this article, I am so offended by Terra Femme’s advertising, but I’d like your opinions on the dangers of dioxin.

Merneith

Here’s the letter, which I hesitated to post, but decided it might be clearer if I did.

Merneith


I’m not sure how much truth there is in this, but it got my attention and I
found it interesting enough to send it along and will certainly look into
this.


Wanted to share this with you..... I find this personally disturbing
and alarming. Do check the labels of the sanitary pads or tampons that
you are going to buy the next time, and see whether you spot any of the
familiar signs stated in this email ... no wonder so many women in the world
suffer from cervical cancer and womb tumors...scary!!!

Please pass on to as many women as possible! If you use pads, but
especially if you use tampons read this and pass on to your friends
(for the men receiving this email, please forward it to your friends,
significant others, sisters, mothers, daughters, etc.) thanks!

Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in tampons? Why
would they do this? Because asbestos makes you bleed more ... if
you bleed more, you're going to need to use more. Why isn't this against
the law since asbestos is so dangerous? Because the powers that be, in all
their wisdom (not), did not consider tampons as being ingested, and
therefore wasn't illegal or considered dangerous.

This month's Essence magazine has a small article about this and they
mention two manufacturers of a cotton tampon alternative. The companies are:

Organic Essentials @ (800) 765-6491

Terra Femme @(800)755-0212.

A woman getting her Ph.D. at University of Colorado, Boulder sent the
following: "I am writing this because women are not being informed about
the dangers of something most of us use - tampons. I am
taking a class this month and I have been learning a lot about biology and
women, including much about feminine hygiene. Recently, we have learned
that tampons are actually dangerous (for other reasons than TSS). I'll tell
you this, after learning about this in our class, most of the females wound
up feeling angry and upset with the tampon industry, and I for one, am going
to do something about it.

To start, I want to inform everyone I can, and email is the fastest
way that I know how. Here is the scoop:

Tampons contain two things that are potentially harmful: Rayon (for
absorbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching the products).
The tampon industry is convinced that we, as women, need bleached
white products--in order to view the product as pure and clean. The problem
here is that the dioxin produced in the bleaching process can lead to very
harmful problems for a woman. Dioxin is potentially carcinogenic
(cancer-associated) and is toxic to the immune and reproductive systems. It
has also been linked to endometriosis
and lower sperm counts for men - for both, it breaks down the immune
system.

Last September the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)reported
that there really is no set "acceptable" level of exposure to dioxin
given that it is cumulative and slow to disintegrate. The real danger
comes from repeated contact (Karen Houppert "Pulling the Plug on the Tampon
Industry"). I'd say using about 4 - 5 tampons a day, five days a month, for
38 menstruating years is "repeated contact," wouldn't
you?

Rayon contributes to the danger of tampons and dioxin because it is a
highly absorbent substance. Therefore, when fibers from the tampons are
left behind in the vagina (as usually occurs), it creates a breeding ground
for the dioxin. It also stays in a lot longer than it would with just
cotton tampons. This is also the reason why TSS (toxic shock syndrome)
occurs.
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?

Using feminine hygiene products that aren't bleached and  that are
all cotton. Other feminine hygiene products (pads/napkins) contain
dioxin as well, but they are not nearly as dangerous since they are not in
direct contact with the vagina. The pads / napkins need to stop being
bleached, but obviously tampons are the most dangerous. So, what can you do
if you can't give up using tampons? Use tampons, that are made from 100%
cotton, and that are UNBLEACHED. Unfortunately, there are very, very few
companies that make these
safe tampons. They are usually only found in health food stores.
Countries all over the world (Sweden, Germany, British Columbia, etc.) have
demanded a switch to this safer tampon, while the U.S . has decided to keep
us in the dark about it.

In 1989, activists in England mounted a campaign against chlorine
bleaching. Six weeks and 50,000 letters later, the makers of
sanitary products switched to oxygen bleaching (one of the green methods
available). (MS magazine, May/June 1995.)
WHAT TO Do NOW:

Tell people. Everyone. Inform them. We are being manipulated by
this industry and the government, let's do something about it! Please write
to the companies: Tampax (Tambrands), Playtex, O.B., Kotex. Call the 800
numbers listed on the boxes. Let them know
that we demand a safe product - ALL COTTON UNBLEACHED TAMPONS.
  Reminder: P.S.
In order not to lose the impact of this email, I suggest that anyone who
want to forward to your friends, PLEASE copy this mail and paste to a NEW
message. That way will not distort the whole message with all the forward
arrows. Please do this with consideration and seriousness.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/tampon.htm

Dioxin is an extremely toxic substance, but as for it being in tampons and causing all sorts of problems, and as far as that e-mail’s veracity goes, well, the snopes site explains all.

And what the heck is a “breeding ground for dioxin”? That is just as ridiculous as saying that your mouth, under certain conditions, is a breeding ground for Drano.

Merneith, I’m not meaning to sound like I’m yelling at you - the “you” in my post is the general “you” - you know, like “they.”

Whether dioxin is carcinogenic in humans is up for debate. It is carcinogenic in mice, guinea pigs, and rats, but 1) the amount of dioxin required varies wildly between those species, and 2) there are many agents that cause cancer in rodents but not in humans.

The EPA (a highly politicized agency which should be much more science-based) went against the advice of its own Science Advisory Board in declaring dioxin a carcinogen. According to the SAB, the only known human condition caused by dioxin is a nasty skin rash called chloracne, sometimes produced in workers exposed to large quantities.

Studies of human exposure to dioxin, from workers in dioxin-producing industries to populations near dioxin contamination, have shown no increase in cancer.

The fact that dioxin can be measured in tampons isn’t surprising - Michael Gough and Steve Milloy measured the dioxin in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to be 200 times the EPA’s Virtually Safe Dose.

The Vietnam veterans who sprayed Agent Orange, and therefore had the highest exposures, have been intensely studied. No increased incidence of cancer or birth defects have been found. It was announced that there was a suggested link with spina bifida defects, but this has been severely criticized for being an example of “data dredging”, where many diseases were studied, so you’d expect that just by chance some would appear statistically significant.

References:
The Trouble With Dioxin
EPA’s Own Panel Says It Masquerades Dioxin Policy as Science
Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall
Bill Clinton Again Betrays The Vets (Agent Orange article)

I knew I’d come to the right place! Thanks for all your info, and the useful links.

I suspect that the person who sent me that will not be happy to learn all this, but maybe it will get me off her mass mailing list - a good end in its own right.

missbunny - I yelled a bit myself over that stupid “breeding” passage :slight_smile:

thanks
Merneith