Should You Be Worried About Toxic Metals In Your Tampons?

Short answer: probably not.

Pictured: Tampons. I feel like at least half of my readers would’ve known that already. Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

Every week it feels like there’s another scare story out about products and services that people use in their daily lives. Whether it’s contaminants in your rice, pollutants in children’s lunchboxes, or microplastics in semen samples, there’s always something to worry about in the news.

This week, the scare story is about tampons. For people who menstruate, the headlines must seem very scary. Media outlets across the world are reporting that a new scientific study has found “alarming levels” of toxic heavy metal contaminants in tampons. If you’re someone who has a period, and uses tampons, the news seems very shocking.

Fortunately for people with periods, the data is not nearly as worrying as you might’ve heard. While it’s true that there are probably some heavy metals in tampons, the quantities of these contaminants are incredibly low. There’s no evidence that you need to throw away your period products just yet.

The Study

The new study that has everyone up in arms was a fairly small research project looking at possible heavy metal contaminants in tampons in the US, UK, and EU. The researchers purchased packets of 24 different tampons — covering 16 brands total — from stores in New York City…