00:00Imagine discovering that the products you rely on every month, products that should support your
00:05health, may instead be exposing you to chemicals linked to hormonal imbalance, infertility,
00:13endometriosis and even cancer. I am concerned a lot and I don't know what we're going to use.
00:22Honestly, we don't know how we're going to go back to cotton or what.
00:26Thus, the reality facing millions of South African women, after a groundbreaking study by the University of the Free State,
00:34found that most of the sanitary pads and panty liners on grocery shelves contain hormone-disrupting chemicals.
00:42Welcome to the floor side.
00:44For days, South Africans have been buzzing about the University of the Free State study.
00:49Researchers analysed 16-pad brands and multiple panty liners from mainstream to organic
00:55and not one came back clean. Each product contained at least two endocrine-disrupting chemicals,
01:02phthalates, bisphenols and parabenas, substances known to interfere with the body's hormone system.
01:10We tested for three groups of chemicals and they're all endocrine-disrupting chemicals, EDCs.
01:19It's the groups of parabens, phytolates and bisphenols. And we tested for several of them,
01:28across 16 sanitary pads and seven panty liners. And we found that all of them had at least two of
01:39these EDCs
01:41in them. And this is important to say in low concentrations.
01:46Yes, the concentrations may be low, but here's the catch. These products are used directly on highly
01:52absorbent mucosal tissue for several days every month over decades until menopause. Scientists warn that
02:00cumulative exposure is the real danger. Women across the country are understandably shaken and demanding
02:08answers. I think government must compensate those who are already getting a cancer because of these
02:16pads. So it's very worrying because now our health is at risk because we now don't know the dangers
02:22that we are kind of like, like reproductive. Some action must be taken, maybe they must pursue it or
02:29arrested or something like that. These fears aren't coming from nowhere. The study shows clear links to
02:35hormonal disruption and possible long-term impacts. So if these chemicals are present, shouldn't consumers
02:42be told? We're working on the issues around standardization and quality control of sanitary
02:49pads. Because while there's been an explosion, I think, in local manufacturing of sanitary pads,
02:56it is important that governments not abdicate the responsibility of ensuring that there's quality
03:01control in how those pads are manufactured. So the big question, does this violate South Africa's
03:09Consumer Protection Act? The act guarantees safe, good quality goods and right now that's been tested.
03:17Should vendors be forced to remove those products from shelves? Switching the whole country to reusable
03:23alternatives won't be that simple. Reusable options require clean water. And I really mean clean water.
03:32If you're using a menstrual cup, you don't just need clean water, you need a microwave oven because you
03:42need to clean it in a microwave oven. And there's a case study from New York of all places where
03:49a student
03:50there didn't clean her menstrual cup properly. And she used just hot water and died because of it. She got
03:59an infection, died. So do we want to do that? It's a balance between responsible legislation, which we want
04:09to be part of and help to inform and provision of these products to young girls who need them.
04:19The study has opened a long overdue conversation about transparency, safety and dignity in menstrual
04:26health. For millions, the question now is simple. If even the products labelled chemical-free aren't safe,
04:34where do we go from here? And that is the flip side.
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