Researchers have found toxic metals — including arsenic and lead — in over a dozen popular brands of tampons, raising questions about a menstrual hygiene product used by millions of Americans.
Their study, published last week in the scientific journal Environment International, adds to a growing body of research about chemicals found in tampons but is believed to be the first to specifically measure metals.
The negative health effects of heavy metals are well-documented and wide-ranging, including damaging the cardiovascular, nervous and endocrine systems; damaging the liver, kidneys and brain; increasing the risk of dementia and cancer and harming maternal health and fetal development.
“Despite this large potential for public health concern, very little research has been done to measure chemicals in tampons,” lead author Jenni Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said in a statement.
Shearston led a team of scientists from Columbia University and Michigan State University in examining 30 tampons from across 14 brands and 18 product lines, which they did not name in the study.
The sampling includes products of various absorbencies, listed as “top sellers” by a major online retailer and purchased both online and at stores in New York City, London and Athens between September 2022 and March 2023.
Researchers detected “measurable concentrations” of all 16 metals they were looking for in the tampons, as well as “elevated mean concentrations” of toxic metals including lead, arsenic and cadmium.
The study says there are several ways metals could get into tampons. Raw materials like cotton and rayon could be contaminated by water, air or soil during production, while metals may in some cases be added intentionally in the manufacturing process either for odor control, pigment or as an antibacterial agent.
The exact amount of metals varied among the tampons, based on which region they were purchased from, whether they were made of organic or non-organic material and on store- versus name-brands, according to the study.
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