Source: Thailand Medical News Nov 17, 2019 4 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 10 hours, 35 minutes ago
A disturbing discovery has unveiled that not only are many female hygiene products laden with numerous types of dangerous volatile organic compounds(VOCs) but these chemicals can actually end up in the bloodstream of the users where it can create untold health catastrophes.
Many VOCs are carcinogenic ie
cancer causing and they can also cause a variety of immunity related issues and are also endocrine disruptors and also trigger a variety of other health related issues.
The new research suggests that women’s feminine hygiene practices, in particular vaginal douching and use of feminine powder may be associated with higher levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their blood.
The study that used biomarkers to link use of feminine hygiene products to VOC exposure is published in
Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
The finding of the research study entitled “Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Use of Feminine Hygiene Products among Reproductive-Aged Women in the United States” was coauthored by Ning Ding, MPH, Stuart Batterman, Ph.D., and Sung Kyun Park, ScD, School of Public Health and College of Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The whole range of feminine hygiene products including tampons, sanitary napkins, sprays, wipes, and other products were all found to contain VOCs. The researchers showed that black women used vaginal douching significantly more and had significantly higher whole blood concentrations of 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB) than white females.Use of feminine powder was significantly associated with higher blood concentrations of ethylbenzene. These products may be a direct source of VOC exposure or they may be related to other activities that increase exposure.
“Based on the findings of this study, feminine hygiene products that expose the vulvovaginal tissue to harmful VOCs should be avoided, especially during pregnancy.” commented Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of
Journal of Women’s Health and Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond in a phone interview with
Thailand Medical News.
The problems can be more pronounced considering that feminine hygiene products are used all over the world and that more companies are manufacturing and distribution it for sale in regions like Asia, South America etc where manufacturing standards and health regulatory measures are even more lax. If there are already problems in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia, the magnitude in the other countries could be far worst.
Reference: “Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Use of Feminine Hygiene Products Among Reproductive-Aged Women in the United States” by Ning Ding, Stuart Batterman and Sung Kyun Park, 19 September 2019, Journal of Women’s Health. DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2019.7785 https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jwh.2019.7785
