00:00But I stood up like that color, and then we flipped it, and then we was like, oh.
00:04Discolored pads, maggots in pads, wait, what is going on with my body right now?
00:12And chemical burns from pads.
00:15These are the realities for many users of menstrual products, but specifically, always pads.
00:25Is there a quality control issue with feminine hygiene products?
00:30By the looks of those videos, one might think so.
00:33Dozens of other posts on social media show people sharing their own experiences with menstrual products.
00:38But before jumping to conclusions, it's important to take a deep dive into how these products are regulated and what they're actually made of.
00:48Now, why does this matter?
00:50Because at any given point each day, about 800 million women and girls are menstruating.
00:56The Harvard Women's Health Study found in 2023, 47% of participants use tampons and 46% use pads.
01:06Out of the most recognized brands, Always is at the top.
01:10In a $50 billion industry where people who menstruate spend nearly $18,000 in their lifetime on products that, for years, had unknown ingredients.
01:20And even though these products are regulated by the FDA, the rules aren't as strict as you might think.
01:27The major improvement that we really push for is that now on any product, any menstrual product, you will see an ingredient label.
01:37That 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 that looks at toxic chemicals in everyday products, including menstrual pads.
01:51I mean, technically they're regulated. They're considered medical devices.
01:56There are no rules on what these products can be made of, on what sort of contaminants they need to be looking for, what they need to be checking.
02:05States like New York and California have passed bills requiring menstrual product boxes to list ingredients, something Scranton's organization helped push for.
02:14She says her team was one of the first back in 2014 to send pads to labs for testing, and the results were concerning.
02:22The chemicals that we found in our testing, those volatile organic compounds, you won't find any of those as ingredients on the label.
02:31And the companies are like, we're not intentionally putting those in there.
02:34So it's a matter of other products, you know, whether it's coming off the plastics or maybe it's coming off the adhesive.
02:41That said, companies are responsible to make sure their products are not contaminated.
02:48Many studies have found chemicals and carcinogens in menstrual products that come into contact with extremely sensitive tissue,
02:55potentially impacting reproductive health, among other issues.
02:58In 2014, these were some of the chemicals found in Always Brand products.
03:04As for today's period panic on TikTok, we did reach out to Always, who directed us to their manufacturer, Procter & Gamble.
03:12We asked them twice, specifically about maggot gait and reports of discolored pads.
03:18As of our deadline, we had not received a response.
03:21But we did hear from someone else in the sanitary product space, Val Emanuel, founder of the organic period products company, Rift Care.
03:31So what it looks like I'm seeing in those pads is just super absorbent polymers.
03:36And also it might be some of the cellulose that's inside of the pad.
03:40A lot of girls were commenting and they were saying, oh my gosh, that's just bunched up cotton.
03:45And it made me realize how much people don't know about what's actually in pads.
03:49Non-organic period products, like Always, do not contain cotton, despite what some users have claimed online.
03:57It's either cellulose or those super absorbent polymers, or SAPs, that hold moisture, similar to what's used in diapers.
04:05But Emanuel says there haven't been many studies on their effect on women's health.
04:10And that lack of research is exactly what pushed her and others to create organic alternatives.
04:16And I even had one friend who had, you know, worn a pad to go into a sauna and it melted to her skin and ripped her skin off.
04:23And having to explain to her that, you know, polyester was plastic and that's why your pad melted and, you know, ripped the skin off your vagina.
04:32Rift Care uses a tree-based pulp that's more sustainable and doesn't require heavy chemical processing.
04:38Some other organic brands use cotton.
04:41While a few studies have found trace chemicals even in some organic products, they're still considered safer than traditional brands.
04:49I started Rift Care with my best friend, Rebecca, because we had so many hormone imbalances and miscarriages in our early 20s.
04:57And we just realized that it was a problem that a lot of women were facing.
05:00But it's not just about discoloration or contamination.
05:05Some women say they've experienced another effect from Always Pads.
05:10Two 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.
05:22We spoke with the woman behind that viral video, Stacey Hernandez.
05:26I just felt off down there.
05:28I was just an off feeling.
05:30And I was like, OK, well, maybe a UTI or a yeast infection, something like that is coming on.
05:35But I never had issues with that before.
05:37So it was concerning.
05:39As the days went on, the irritation turned into burning, chafing, and an open wound that sent her to urgent care.
05:47People were telling me to use Rael or Honeypot, things like that.
05:51I did switch to it for a while, but then I was like, yeah, this is too expensive.
05:53I'm going to the Equate brand.
05:54I mean, I always tell people to stock up on organic products when they're on sale.
05:59Other things you can use are period underwear, which I know that they're an initial investment, right?
06:04Like some girls own five pairs.
06:06That'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.
06:13The higher price of organic products comes down to the manufacturing process.
06:19At Rifcare, people were really concerned about things like BPA and PFA, but those are mostly chemicals that are used in the processing of like the polyacrylates and the polyesters.
06:29So just by using organic, you know that you're avoiding certain processes, which avoid certain chemicals.
06:35And because smaller companies like Rifcare work closely with their manufacturers, they have more control over quality.
06:42Our pad manufacturers will use gamma ray to clean different things.
06:46And they're also in an airtight manufacturing facility, which means that moisture cannot get in.
06:52That was a lot of information.
06:55But if you're wondering what you can do, organizations like Scranton's are already working to test products and demand transparency.
07:02Yes, you can switch your products, but Scranton says it's also important to speak up.
07:08By posting videos like Stacey Hernandez did, you're helping bring attention to an issue that's long been overlooked.
07:15Always did reach out to Hernandez for more information, but she said the form they sent her wouldn't submit.
07:21And the woman who found a maggot in her pad, she received a $10 coupon.
07:26Scranton also says anyone can file a report with the FDA through the MedWatch form if they experience an adverse reaction.
07:35One report might not seem like much, but multiple reports could spark real action.
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