Why Are Questions Around Menstrual Product Safety Only being Asked Now?
Over 50% of the population has needed to use menstrual products at some point in their lives, with a wide range of selections to suit different bodies, flows and preferences. From the iconic winged pads and cotton tampons to the more modern menstrual discs and cups, the menstrual product industry generates a staggering £700million+ annually in the UK alone. So why are questions only now being asked about the safety and testing of these products?
To understand why menstrual products haven’t been taken more seriously sooner, we must first discuss the cultural taboo around menstruation. Marketing around menstrual products has continuously pushed the idea that periods are something unsanitary and should be hidden. For decades we have seen TV adverts use a blue liquid in place of a red one when showcasing absorbency. We’ve seen products be labelled things like “sanitary towels” and watched as public figures are called dirty in the media for accidental leaks. Shame is instilled in people from a young age and conversations about periods are quickly shut down as being uncomfortable. With this discomfort and taboo spreading across society, it is no wonder it has impacted the testing of the products themselves.
For decades, menstrual products have been tested with saline solutions, or water like liquids, in the place of actual menstrual blood following absorbency standards not updated since the 1980’s. This was all despite research showing that menstrual blood behaves very differently to saline. It wasn’t until a study in 2023 by the Oregon Health & Science University, which showed absorbency levels significantly varied when using menstrual blood and saline solution, that conversations about how we test menstrual products started getting more attention.
How these products are being tested is not the only concern that has sparked more intrigue lately. With more knowledge on PFAS, more commonly known as “forever chemicals”, concerns have begun to spread around what is being put into these products and how they are impacting people’s bodies. These forever chemicals have been linked to fertility, hormonal disruption and even some cancers. Yet they are still being found in pads, tampons and period underwear. Even brands labelled “organic” or “natural” have received claims that their products contain PFAS.
One of the biggest concerns about what is being put into these products came in 2024 when researchers found measurable concentrations of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other metals in tampons across different brands. While more research is needed to determine the impact these metals have on people’s health, the discovery of them alone has led to awareness around the products people use and more people are opting for products not linked to PFAS and metals.
None of this is all that surprising though. Women’s health has historically been underfunded with research into the likes of menstruation, menopause and hormonal health lagging behind other medical research areas.
Endometriosis is a perfect example of this. Even though endometriosis affects approximately one in ten women, diagnosis is still taking an average of seven to ten years. Delays in diagnosis is frequently cited as being caused by patients not being taken seriously. Patients have reported being told that pain is a “normal” symptom of menstruation, they are exaggerating or even that the symptoms are more likely related to anxiety. With patients being dismissed time and time again, it is no wonder that a disease impacting 200 million people worldwide still has no known cause or effective treatment.
If we looked at erectile dysfunction as a comparison, we would see a stark difference in how men’s health issues and women’s health issues are treated. With erectile dysfunction impacting 322 million people worldwide, there has been thousands of studies into treatment effectiveness, vascular causes and even psychological impacts. The NHS alone prescribes and average of 4.5 million medications for erectile dysfunction every year and treatments are even available in drug stores and some supermarkets. Treatments like Viagra are openly advertised on billboards and TV commercials and are becoming increasingly normalised in public discourse.
Both erectile dysfunction and endometriosis are legitimate medical issues that have significant impacts on quality of life. However, the contrast between how both medical issues have been treated highlights the historical gap in how men’s health issues and women’s health issues are prioritised.
With this all in mind, it is no wonder questions are finally being asked about how menstrual products are being tested and what is going into them. This scrutiny didn’t emerge in isolation, rather from a wider history of women’s health being minimised and insufficiently investigated.