Maggots, discoloration and burns: What’s going on with menstrual products?

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00:00but i started like that color and then we flipped it and then we was like oh discolored pads

00:08maggots and pads wait what is going on with my body right now and chemical burns from pads

00:15these are the realities for many users of menstrual products but specifically always pads

00:22is there a quality control issue with feminine hygiene products by the looks of those videos

00:31one might think so dozens of other posts on social media show people sharing their own experiences

00:37with menstrual products but before jumping to conclusions it's important to take a deep dive

00:43into how these products are regulated and what they're actually made of now why does this matter

00:50because at any given point each day about 800 million women and girls are menstruating

00:57the harvard women's health study found in 2023 47 percent of participants use tampons and 46 percent

01:04use pads out of the most recognized brands always is at the top in a 50 billion dollar industry where

01:12people who menstruate spend nearly 18 000 in their lifetime on products that for years had unknown

01:20ingredients and even though these products are regulated by the fda the rules aren't as strict

01:26as you might think the major improvement that we that we really push for is that now on any product

01:34any menstrual product you will see an ingredient label that is new in the last several years

01:40weaving voices for health and justice formerly known as women's voices for the earth is an organization

01:46that looks at toxic chemicals in everyday products including menstrual pads i mean technically they're

01:53regulated they're considered medical devices there are no rules on what these products can be made of

01:59on what sort of contaminants they need to be looking for what they need to be checking states like new york

02:06and california have passed bills requiring menstrual product boxes to list ingredients something

02:11scranton's organization helped push for she says her team was one of the first back in 2014 to send pads

02:18to labs for testing and the results were concerning the the chemicals that we found um in our in our

02:25testing those volatile organic compounds you won't find any of those as ingredients on the label and the

02:31companies are like we're not intentionally putting those in there so it's a matter of other products you

02:37know whether it's coming off the plastics or maybe it's coming off the adhesive that said companies are

02:43responsible to make sure their products are not contaminated many studies have found chemicals and

02:49carcinogens in menstrual products that come into contact with extremely sensitive tissue potentially

02:55impacting reproductive health among other issues in 2014 these were some of the chemicals found in

03:02always brand products as for today's period panic on tick tock we did reach out to always who directed

03:09us to their manufacturer procter and gamble we asked them twice specifically about maggot gate and reports

03:16of discolored pads as of our deadline we had not received a response but we did hear from someone

03:23else in the sanitary product space val emmanuel founder of the organic period products company rif care

03:31so what it looks like i'm seeing in those pads is just super absorbent polymers and also it might

03:37be some of the cellulose that's inside of the pad a lot of girls were commenting and they were saying oh

03:43my gosh that's just bunched up cotton and it made me realize how much people don't know about what's

03:48actually in pads non-organic period products like always do not contain cotton despite what some users

03:55have claimed online it's either cellulose or those super absorbent polymers or sap's that hold moisture

04:03similar to what's used in diapers but emmanuel says there haven't been many studies on their effect on

04:09woman's health and that lack of research is exactly what pushed her and others to create organic alternatives

04:17even had one friend who had you know worn a pad to go into a sauna and it melted to her skin and ripped

04:22her skin off and having to explain to her that you know polyester was plastic and that's why your pad

04:28melted and you know ripped the skin off your vagina rif care uses a tree-based pulp that's more

04:35sustainable and doesn't require heavy chemical processing some other organic brands use cotton while a few

04:42studies have found trace chemicals even in some organic products they're still considered safer

04:47than traditional brands i started rif care with my best friend rebecca because we had so many hormone

04:53imbalances and miscarriages in our early 20s and we just realized that it was a problem that a lot

04:59of women were facing but it's not just about discoloration or contamination some women say they've

05:06experienced another effect from always pads two months ago i had the worst chemical burn ever

05:15now some suspect it could have been a bad batch but i myself experienced the same effect years ago we

05:22spoke with the woman behind that viral video stacy hernandez i just felt off down there i was just an

05:29off feeling and i was like okay well maybe a uti or a yeast infection something like that is coming on

05:35but i never had issues with that before so it was concerning as the days went on the irritation

05:41turned into burning chafing and an open wound that sent her to urgent care people were telling me to

05:48use riel or honeypot things like that i did switch to it for a while but then i was like yeah this is

05:53too because i'm going to the equate brand i mean i always tell people to stock up on organic products

05:58when they're on sale other things you can use are period underwear which i know that they're an initial

06:03investment right like some girls own five pairs that's about a hundred bucks to get five pairs

06:09but at the same time it's like that hundred bucks is spent over the course of five years

06:14the higher price of organic products comes down to the manufacturing process at rif care people were

06:20really concerned about things like bpa and pfa but those are mostly chemicals that are used in the

06:26processing of like the polyacrylates and the polyesters so just by using organic you know that you're

06:31avoiding certain processes which avoid certain chemicals and because smaller companies like

06:37rif care work closely with their manufacturers they have more control over quality our pad

06:43manufacturers will use gamma ray to clean different things and they're also in an airtight manufacturing

06:49facility which means that moisture cannot get in that was a lot of information but if you're

06:55wondering what you can do organizations like scranton's are already working to test products and demand

07:01transparency yes you can switch your products but scranton says it's also important to speak up by

07:08posting videos like stacy hernandez did you're helping bring attention to an issue that's long been

07:14overlooked always did reach out to hernandez for more information but she said the form they sent her

07:20wouldn't submit and the woman who found a maggot in her pad she received a 10 coupon scranton also says anyone can file

07:29a report with the fda through the med watch form if they experience an adverse reaction one report might

07:36not seem like much but multiple reports could spark real action with straight arrow news i'm kennedy felton

07:44download our app or visit san.com for more

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