Because disposable menstrual products cause health and environmental problems, more and more women are choosing menstrual cups as an alternative to tampons.

In addition, they are becoming more and more popular because they can be worn safely for up to 12 hours at a time.

Menstrual cups are also popular because they do not contain chemicals, bleach or fibres that can cause sensitivities or allergic reactions.

Plus, soft, flexible menstrual cups can be worn during sex, making the experience less messy for women and their partners.

Still not convinced? Try our menstrual cup.

Tampons, Pads: the manipulations of a toxic industry

‘Consumerism hides in the details,’ says researcher Jeanne Guien: behind disposable pads and tampons lies a toxic industry. Tampons, Pads: the Manipulations of a Toxic Industry is the title of her latest book.

Understanding how Procter & Gamble, Tampax and others have managed to build their disposable empire – worth tens of billions of dollars a year worldwide – required a little digging in the archives.

Through a careful analysis of the means of communication used by these companies since their creation at the end of the 19th century, Jeanne Guien reveals the sources of their success.

Their promotional strategies have marginalised reusable menstrual products and allowed a handful of multinationals to monopolise the new ‘period market’.

The most important of these are the persistent hatred of women’s bodies, perpetuated by advertisements and television commercials, and the ‘homemade’ devices that have long been used to collect menstrual flow. The comparison of these reusable devices with a ‘dark age’ has allowed these large companies to present themselves as ‘revolutionaries in a constant race for technological innovation’.

The factories of one of the industry leaders, Procter & Gamble, have dumped so much wastewater into the Fenholloway River in Florida that it has become the third most polluted river in the US, according to the researcher. In the UK alone, plastic-soaked tampons and disposable pads generate nearly 200,000 tonnes of waste a year.

— Hortense Chauvin

‘Technological innovation’, but a total disregard for the environment, says Jeanne Guien. And health.

She recalls that warnings were issued as early as 1975 about the link between certain materials used in tampons and the production of bacterial toxins. Despite this, Procter & Gamble continued to sell ‘super-absorbent’ tampons until 1980, the gels of which released glucose, feeding staphylococcus responsible for toxic shock syndrome, a sometimes fatal disease. This case, according to the researcher, ‘Is typical of the excess of innovation, discretion and protection that characterises this sector, which benefits directly from the shame it promotes in its advertising’.

The industry is unregulated and the list of ingredients in the vast majority of tampons remains unknown. The use of chemicals to bleach cotton is still widespread, despite its health and environmental consequences.

— Hortense Chauvin

There is also a neocolonial dimension to this problem, which the book explores in detail: in 2019 and 2020, tests showed that Always tampons sold in Kenya contained polyethylene, a plastic material that was removed from American, Canadian and European sanitary pads in 1996 because of its dangers.

This book examines the menstrual culture of consumerist societies, where all experience (especially bodily experience) tends to be commodified. Through the history of three menstrual products – disposable pads, disposable tampons and menstrual cycle tracking apps – the author continues her investigation into consumerism, everyday objects and the training of ‘female’ bodies.

More information, in French:

— Hortense Chauvin, Tampons, serviettes : les manipulations d’une industrie toxique, Reporterre, 13 février 2023.

— Jeanne Guien, Une histoire des produits menstruels, éditions Divergences, 240 pages, 18 euros.