What Happens in a Vagina, Stays in a Vagina: What it Means for Us that Lead was Found in Tampons
I was on a family trip when I used my first tampon. We were going swimming, I was on my period, and I was 14. It took me 30 minutes at least and I had to hold up the front-facing camera on my phone to figure out where it even goes. While I was relieved to go swimming, as I walked out of the bathroom I remember feeling uncomfortable, wrong, bad, and ashamed for plugging myself up.
That was nine years ago. 108 periods have passed. Say my period lasts five days, the average length of a period, and I use three tampons a day, changing them every four hours and taking them out at night. Not considering that I am not always using tampons or sometimes I change my tampon more frequently, let's say for argument's sake that I use 15 tampons per period. Since I first used a tampon, I have used 1,620 tampons. 1,620 times I have plugged myself up. 1,620 times I have wondered who can tell I am walking around with a wad of cotton up my vagina. 1,620 times I have unknowingly exposed myself to lead.
The study that has recently sparked articles, Tik-Toks, and general internet turmoil found several toxic metals, including lead, in tampons. In the paper published in Environment International, researchers evaluated the metal components in tampons finding that all 16 metals tested for were found in multiple tampon brands, regardless of organic certification. Tampon samples were acid-digested in a microwave digestion system. Acid digestion allows for the decomposition of a sample to only its trace metal components in solution. Think of it like that vat of acid in cartoons that only leaves the evil mastermind's bones behind. In this metaphor, tampons are the antagonist, evil to their core with their metal bones. The trace elements can then be analyzed for their concentrations and characteristics. This is how we know there is metal in our tampons. This is how we know there is lead in period products.
Lead was found in every tampon the authors tested. As the authors note, there is no safe exposure level of lead.
In an article published in Slate titled “You Don’t Have to Worry about Metal in Tampons”, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz writes about the study, “There was so little lead that to extract any of the toxins at all, the researchers had to boil the tampons in acid—a somewhat different environment from that of your average vagina.” It’s easy to want to write off this important research as having a minuscule impact because you don't understand the process used to analyze the tampons. I have been using tampons for half my life and my vagina does not dissolve tampons to their trace metal components. The author, an epidemiologist, warns against the internet frenzy studies like this one can cause. I am not a medical professional, yet, as a woman, tampon user, and a person who has a college understanding of biology, I would argue against his point. The fact of whether or not the lead in tampons has and will lead to adverse health effects in people who use them is extremely understudied at this point in time, but that is the biggest problem. We need more research.
I believe in getting all the facts before making a decision, but how am I able to make an informed decision about my health when there are no facts? If there is anything to take away from this latest viral scientific study other than making the switch to a menstrual cup, it’s that we need more research about people with vaginas which have largely been ignored in science.
As daunting as it all seems, we are taking steps in the right direction. Instead of getting angry at online articles belittling the efforts of research about women’s health, we should shine a light on the important work already being done. Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes research about women’s health is one resource to finding out about the science being done. But, in order to stay in the conversation, above all, we need to keep talking about our experiences. For centuries, what happened in a vagina, stayed in a vagina. With more science centered around women’s health, we will be closer to a world where we can be more informed and healthier.