Berkeley Public Health said: “Metals have been found to increase the risk of dementia, infertility, diabetes, and cancer.”
“They can damage the liver, kidneys, and brain, as well as the cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems. In addition, metals can harm maternal health and foetal development.”
Coauthor Kathrin Schilling, assistant professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health said: “Although toxic metals are ubiquitous and we are exposed to low levels at any given time, our study clearly shows that metals are also present in menstrual products, and that women might be at higher risk for exposure using these products.”
For now, we don’t know if these metals are contributing to negative health effects but researchers have stated that further studies will test how much of these metals can leach out of the tampons and be absorbed by the body, as well as measuring for other chemicals.
Shearston said: “I really hope that manufacturers are required to test their products for metals, especially for toxic metals.”
“It would be exciting to see the public call for this, or to ask for better labelling on tampons and other menstrual products.”
Well, indeed.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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