End Plastics
The Problem with Period Products
August 26, 2025
This Women’s Equality Day, let’s talk about something that deserves way more attention than it gets: what’s really in our period products. Yep, we’re going there because it turns out that those everyday pads, tampons, and even period underwear we rely on every month might be doing more than just soaking up flow.
Recent studies have uncovered something pretty unsettling: many feminine hygiene products contain harmful plastic chemicals, including a group called PFAS; short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These are notoriously called “forever chemicals” because once they’re in your body, they stick around for a long time. Testing revealed that 48% of pads, 22% of tampons, and a whopping 65% of period underwear contained PFAS. These chemicals have been linked to hormonal disruptions, fertility issues, immune system suppression, and even certain cancers.
So the question is: why are corporations allowed to put chemicals like these into our bodies with
Invisible Ingredients, Real Risk
The global feminine hygiene market is valued at over $4.5 billion in the US alone, making pads and tampons not just necessities, but big business. With big business comes big secrets. Despite their massive market stake, most companies disclose little to nothing about what’s inside their products.
Independent testing has revealed what’s hiding in them: carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, reproductive toxins, and allergens. Vaginal and vulvar tissue is far more absorbent than skin, meaning chemicals in period products can enter the bloodstream quickly. The very products designed for intimate health may actually compromise it.
The kicker is; the FDA regulates these items as medical devices, not consumer goods. That classification exempts them from the labeling requirements we expect from everyday items like cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, and over the counter drugs. Companies can voluntarily disclose ingredients, but most do not. Consumers are left in the dark about what they are putting into their bodies.
The Additives No One Asked For
Pads and tampons aren’t just cotton anymore. The market thrives on engineering products with advanced polymers, nonwovens, adhesives, and fragrances – none of which are there for your health. Fragrances, for instance, contain dozens of disclosed chemicals designed to “mask odor”, but in reality, they disrupt pH levels, upset bacterial balance, and can lead to infection, and then more stink. It creates a mean cycle.
And then there’s microplastics – tiny fragments that don’t biodegrade and accumulate in the body over time. Studies suggest that they may disrupt hormones and contribute to long-term health problems as well. When you use an “Ultra-thin” pad or “super-absorbant” tampon, think about the cocktail of synthetic fibers and plastic that stick around in you long after you toss them out.
What’s marketed as comfort and innovation comes at the expense of transparency and safety.
Pads Outlive People
The same plastics and chemicals don’t just vanish after we’re done with them. The average person who menstruates will use up to 17,000 tampons or pads in their lifetime. With most pads made of nearly 90% plastic and tampons often wrapped in plastic applicators and packaging, the waste adds up. A single pad can take 500–800 years to decompose, meaning one person’s lifetime of period product waste will outlast them for centuries. Tampon applicators and wrappers disposed improperly pollute oceans and beaches, while microplastics leach toxins into soil and waterways. In short: the very products meant to manage a natural cycle are helping fuel an unnatural environmental crisis.
The Cost of Bleeding
Here’s the other piece of the puzzle: not everyone has the luxury of choice. While some people can debate whether to buy organic cotton tampons, 500 million people lack access to basic menstrual products altogether. This lack doesn’t just affect hygiene, but it ripples into education, work, and health.
Missing school or work because of a period reinforces cycles of poverty and stigma. And when low-income communities do have access, it’s often to the cheapest, disposable products ,that not only generate mountains of waste, but also tend to have more toxic chemicals, fragrances, and plastics than higher-quality or reusable alternatives. Health inequality becomes environmental inequity.
Some governments are stepping up. Scotland now provides free products for all, and Kenya eliminated the tampon tax altogether back in 2004. Most of the world, unfortunately, has not caught up. Even fewer governments actively encourage sustainable, non-toxic menstrual product options.
Breaking the Cycle
Period products shouldn’t come with hidden risks, toxic chemicals, and a side of climate destruction. Yet here we are, operating in a market that prioritizes profit over health.
The good news? Change is possible. Stronger federal laws, like New York’s disclosure act, could pull back the curtain on what’s really in these products. Transparency would put pressure on companies to clean up their act.
In the meantime, don’t panic: just get picky. Look for brands that are transparent about their ingredients and free of synthetic fragrances, dyes, and chlorine bleaching. Explore reusable or organic options where possible. Bonus: many of these choices are also more eco-friendly and budget-friendly in the long run.
Periods are already enough to deal with. Toxic chemicals, corporate secrecy, and environmental destruction shouldn’t be part of the package. Period.
You can help make a difference – sign EARTHDAY.ORG’s petition for the Global Plastics Treaty. Help stop plastic pollution and protect both people and the planet.
It’s not just our bodies under attack, it is the Environmental Protection Agency too. If you care about the environment, and are in the U.S., we need your voice. Add your name to our public comments on the EPA’s intentions to gut the agency’s ability to regulate pollution due to climate change, also known as the Endangerment Finding.
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