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Women read this!!! It's important.
If you are a woman and use pads, but especially if you use tampons,
read this and pass it on to your friends. For the men receiving this
email, please forward it to your friends, significant others, sisters,
mothers, daughters, etc. Thanks!
Check the labels of the sanitary pads or tampons that you are going to
buy
the next time and see whether you spot any of the familiar signs stated
in
this email. No wonder so many women in the world suffer from cervical
cancer
and womb tumours. Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in
tampons? Why would they do this?
Because asbestos makes you bleed more, if you bleed more, you're going
to
need to use more. Why isn't this against the law since asbestos is so
dangerous? Because the powers that be, in all their wisdom (not), did
not
consider tampons as being ingested and, therefore, did not consider
them
illegal or dangerous.
This month's Essence magazine mentions 2 manufacturers of a cotton
tampon
alternative. The companies are: Organic Essentials @ 1-800-765-6491 and
Terra Femme @ 1-800-755-0212.
A woman getting her Ph.D. at University of Colorado sent the following:
"I
am writing this because women are not being informed about the dangers
of
something most of us use: Tampons. I am taking a class this month and I
have
been learning a lot about biology and women, including feminine
hygiene.
Recently we have learned that tampons are actually dangerous (for other
reasons than TSS). After learning about this in our class, most of the
females wound up feeling angry and upset with the tampon industry, and
I for
one, am going to do something about it. To start, I want to inform
everyone
I can, and email is the fastest way that I know how.
HERE IS THE SCOOP: Tampons contain two things that are potentially
harmful:
Rayon (for absorbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching). The
tampon industry is convinced that we, as women, need bleached white
products
in order to view the product as pure and clean. The problem here is
that the
dioxin, can lead to very harmful problems for a woman. Dioxin is
potentially
carcinogenic (cancer-associated) and is toxic to the immune and
reproductive
systems. It has also been linked to endometriosis and lower sperm
counts for
men. For both sexes, it breaks down the immune system.
Last September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that
there really is no "acceptable" level of exposure to dioxin given that
it is
cumulative and slow to disintegrate. The real danger comes from
repeated
contact (Karen Couppert "Pulling the Plug on the Tampon Industry"). I'd
say
using about 4-5 tampons a day, five days a month, for 38 years is
"repeated
contact", wouldn't you? Rayon contributes to the danger of tampons and
dioxin because it is a highly absorbent substance. Therefore, when
fibers
from the tampons are left behind in the vagina (as usually occurs), it
creates a breeding ground for the dioxin. It also stays in a lot longer
that
it would with just cotton tampons. This is also the reason why TSS
(toxic
shock syndrome) occurs.
WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES? Using feminine hygiene products that aren't
bleached and that are all cotton. Other feminine hygiene products
(pads/napkins) contain dioxin as well, but they are not nearly as
dangerous.
So, what can you do if you can't give up using tampons? Use tampons
that are
made from 100% UNBLEACHED cotton.
Unfortunately, there are very few companies that make these safe
tampons.
They are usually only found in health food stores. Countries all over
the
world (Sweden, Germany,British Columbia, etc.) have demanded a switch
to
this safer tampon, while the US has decided to keep us in the dark
about it.
In 1989, activists in England mounted a campaign against chlorine
bleaching.
Six weeks and 50,000 letters later, the makers of sanitary products
switched
to oxygen bleaching (one of the green methods available) (MS magazine,
May/June 1995).
WHAT TO DO NOW: Tell people. Everyone. Inform them. We are being
manipulated
by this industry and the government, let's do something about it!
Please
write to the companies: Tampax (Tambrands); Playtex; O.B.; Kotex. All
the
800 numbers are listed on the boxes. Let them know that we demand a
safe
product: ALL COTTON UNBLEACHED TAMPONS...
REMINDER: In order not to lose the impact of this email, I suggest that
anyone who wants to forward it to their friends, PLEASE copy this mail
and
paste it to a NEW message. That way it will not distort the whole
message
with all the forward arrows. Please do this with consideration and
seriousness." Thank you all