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Do you find tampons dry your vagina when you remove them ... this damage to your vaginal wall is how staphylococcus aureus gets into your blood stream to cause toxic shock |
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IMPORTANT: TAMPON USE HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH TOXIC SHOCK SYDROME (TSS). TOXIC SHOCK IS A RARE BUT SERIOUS DISEASE THAT MAY CAUSE DEATH Toxic Shock Syndrome is the result of a severe infection of the blood due to an overgrowth of bacteria called Staphylococcus Aureus. It was first defined by doctors in USA in 1980 and can effect anyone but more likely to be linked to periods and tampon use in particular. Although this bacteria is carried quite harmlessly around the nose and on the skin by 35 - 50% of adults, it can move into the blood stream via the damaged vaginal wall. When a menstruating woman is using tampons, she is extremely prone to TSS. Most TSS cases occur in women between 15 - 25. Why are tampons so bad *The tampon provides the perfect surface for bacteria to colonize *The blood on the tampons feeds the bacteria *The tampon introduces more oxygen into the vagina for the bacteria to use *The warm moist conditions are ideal for bacteriological growth *Super-absorbent tampons contain more rayon, which could change the chemical environmment of the vagina *Super-adsorbent tampons dry out and damage the vaginal walls and make transfer of the bacteria into the blood stream easier. (Not just for Staphylococcus Aureaus but also for STDs) *The longer the tampon is in place the more bacteria can multiply NATURAL GUM RUBBER VERSUS GENETICALLY MODIFIED COTTON If one woman uses approximately 11 000 tampons in her lifetime, how many tampons are used world wide in one year? Multipy that by decades since disposables came into existence. Not incuded in that figure is the amount of packaging used and trashed and the energy consumed in the production of all these products. This is not an imaginary figure but the reality of tampon and pad usage. The end result is a mountain of used products and packaging littering our waste dumps. Add to this the use of genetically modified cotton and the waste by-products such as dioxin and the next question would be why do we continue to risk our health, our money or our environment at such a high price when there is a user friendly and environmentally sustainable alternative. Dioxin pollution is a serious worldwide environmental problem. Research suggests that dioxin can disrupt hormones within the body. It is a potentially harmful by-product of the chlorine bleaching process used in the wood pulp industry. This includes the manufacture of feminine hygiene products such as pads, panty shelds and tampons made from rayon or rayon/cotton blends. Evidence is growing that even low levels of dioxin may be linked to breast cancer, cancer, endometriosis, low sperm counts and immune system suppression. Dioxin is found throughout the environment in varying levels and collects in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans. Women who use tampons or pads are unnecessarily exposing themselves to dioxin. Rayon which is more absorbent than cotton is a wood pulp derivative that is commonly chlorine-bleached. It is used widely in feminine hygiene products. Additives such as surfactants are also used in tampons to increase absorbency. It is likely surfactants and fragrances pose additional unnecessary health risks when used in feminine hygiene products. Genetically Modified Cottonis likely to be found in any cotton product and most tampons on the market today contain around 25% cotton fibre. 50% of cotton grown worldwide (excuding organic cotton) is genetically modified. Perhaps it is the lobbying power and advertising budgets of the sanitary protection industry, or the domination of men in the media, that has kept the issue of GM cotton in tampons and pads out of the public gaze. Sara Chamberlain in the Earth Island Journal Toxic Tampons Pose Health Risks An American woman uses as many as 11,000 tampons in her lifetime. Most tampons sold by companies such as [the well-known name brands] are made of rayon or rayon-cotton blends. Rayon, a woodpulp derivative commonly bleached with chlorine, contains dioxin, an organochlorine formed during the bleaching process. Mounting evidence suggests that low levels of dioxin may be linked to cancer (especially breast cancer), immune system suppression and low sperm counts. A February 7 Village Voice article estimated that 73 million US women regularly risk dioxin exposure when they put bleached sanitary products in contact with highly absorbent mucous membranes. In 1992, a congressional subcommittee discovered a March 1989 memo stating that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists had detected trace levels of dioxin in tampons. The memo warned that "the risk of dioxin in tampons can be quite high," and that "the most effective risk-management strategy would be to assure that tampons contain no dioxin." Subcommittee chair Ted Weiss accused the FDA of purposely ignoring the dioxin danger in tampons. A New York University School of Medicine study, published in the July 1994 issue of Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology, suggested that rayon also produces Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which cause Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). When researchers tested 20 varieties of tampons for their ability to induce TSS toxins, the bacteria were detected in all US brands. Despite the deaths of 38 women in 1980 from tampon-related TSS, the tampon industry continues to deny that there is a connection between TSS and rayon. A class- action lawsuit has been filed against [two of the largest name brand tampon manufacturers] by two Kansas women who allege that they contracted TSS from the companys' tampons. According to a May 31, 1994 Wall Street Journal article, the lawsuit "seeks to require manufacturers to adequately notify women of the alleged dangers of their products and to pay restitution, as well as establish a fund for long-term monitoring and treatment of the illness." Fortunately, dioxin-free, 100-percent cotton tampons have been available to American women since September, 1993. Natracare, a British company, offers a full line of sanitary products, including panty-liners that contain woodpulp bleached with hydrogen peroxide (which has no negative impacts on human health or the environment). In January, the California Assembly will consider a bill (A1963) to require the state Department of Health Services to determine if sanitary products contain dioxin residue. The bill would also require warning labels on all sanitary products found to contain dioxin residue. Tampon companies are currently not required to list the contents of their products on their packaging. 
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