Maggots, discoloration and burns: What's going on with menstrual products?

But I sort of like that color and then we flipped it and then we was like, oh

Discolored pads. Maggots and pads. Wait, what is going on with my body right now

And chemical burns from pads. These are the realities for many users of menstrual products, but specifically always pads

Is there a quality control issue with feminine hygiene products? By the looks of those videos, one might think so

Dozens of other posts on social media show people sharing their own experiences with menstrual products

But before jumping to conclusions, it's important to take a deep dive into how these products are regulated and what they're actually made of

Now, why does this matter? Because at any given point each day, about 800 million women and girls are menstruating

The Harvard Women's Health study found in 2023, 47 percent of participants use tampons and 46 percent use pads

Out of the most recognized brands, Always is at the top in a 50 billion dollar industry where people who menstruate spend nearly 18,000 dollars in their lifetime on products that for years had unknown ingredients

And even though these products are regulated by the FDA, the rules aren't as strict as you might think

The major improvement that we really push for is that now on any product, any menstrual product, you will see an ingredient label

That is new in the last several years. Weaving Voices for Health and Justice, formerly known as Women's Voices for the Earth

is an organization that looks at toxic chemicals in everyday products, including menstrual pads

I mean technically they regulated They considered medical devices There are no rules on what these products can be made of on what sort of contaminants they need to be looking for what they need to be checking

States like New York and California have passed bills requiring menstrual product boxes to list ingredients, something Scranton's organization helped push for

She says her team was one of the first back in 2014 to send pads to labs for testing, and the results were concerning

The chemicals that we found in our testing, those volatile organic compounds, you won't find any of those as ingredients on the label

And the companies are like, we're not intentionally putting those in there. So it's a matter of other products, you know, whether it's coming off the plastics or maybe it's coming off the adhesive

That said, companies are responsible to make sure their products are not contaminated

Many studies have found chemicals and carcinogens in menstrual products that come into contact with extremely sensitive tissue, potentially impacting reproductive health, among other issues

In 2014, these were some of the chemicals found in Always Brand products

As for today's period panic on TikTok, we did reach out to Always, who directed us to their manufacturer, Procter & Gamble

We asked them twice specifically about maggot gait and reports of discolored pads

As of our deadline, we had not received a response. But we did hear from someone else in the sanitary product space, Val Emmanuel, founder of the organic period products company Riff Care

So what it looks like I'm seeing in those pads is just super absorbent polymers

And also it might be some of the cellulose that's inside of the pad

A lot of girls were commenting and they were saying, oh, my gosh, that's just bunched up cotton

And it made me realize how much people don't know about what's actually in pads

Non period products like always do not contain cotton despite what some users have claimed online It either cellulose or those super absorbent polymers or SAPs that hold moisture similar to what used in diapers

But Emanuel says there haven't been many studies on their effect on women's health

and that lack of research is exactly what pushed her and others to create organic alternatives

And I even had one friend who had, you know, worn a pad to go into a sauna and it melted to her skin and ripped her skin off

And having to explain to her that, you know, polyester was plastic and that's why your pad melted and, you know, ripped the skin off your vagina

Rift Care uses a tree-based pulp that's more sustainable and doesn't require heavy chemical processing

Some other organic brands use cotton. While a few studies have found trace chemicals even in some organic products, they're still considered safer than traditional brands

I started Rift Care with my best friend Rebecca because we had so many hormone imbalances and miscarriages in our early 20s

And we just realized that it was a problem that a lot of women were facing

But it's not just about discoloration or contamination. Some women say they've experienced another effect from Always Pads

Two months ago, I had the worst chemical burn ever. Now, some suspect it could have been a bad batch, but I myself experienced the same effect years ago

We spoke with the woman behind that viral video, Stacey Hernandez. I just felt off down there. I was just an off feeling

And I was like, OK, well, maybe a UTI or a yeast infection, something like that is coming on

But I never had issues with that before, so it was concerning. As the days went on, the irritation turned into burning, chafing, and an open wound that sent her to urgent care

People were telling me to use Rael or Honeypot things like that I did switch to it for a while but then I was like yeah this is too expensive I going to the Equate brand I mean I always tell people to stock up on organic products when they on sale Other things you can use are period

underwear, which I know that they're an initial investment, right? Like some girls own five pairs

That's about a hundred bucks to get five pairs. But at the same time, it's like that hundred bucks

is spent over the course of five years. The higher price of organic products comes down to

the manufacturing process. At RiffCare, people were really concerned about things like BPA

and PFA, but those are mostly chemicals that are used in the processing of like the polyacrylates

and the polyesters. So just by using organic, you know that you're avoiding certain processes

which avoid certain chemicals. And because smaller companies like RiffCare work closely

with their manufacturers, they have more control over quality. Our pad manufacturers will use

gamma ray to clean different things. And they're also in an airtight manufacturing facility

which means that moisture cannot get in. That was a lot of information. But if you're wondering

what you can do, organizations like Scranton's are already working to test products and demand

transparency. Yes, you can switch your products, but Scranton says it's also important to speak up

by posting videos like Stacey Hernandez did. You're helping bring attention to an issue that's

long been overlooked. Always did reach out to Hernandez for more information, but she said

the form they sent her wouldn't submit. And the woman who found a maggot in her pad

she received a $10 coupon. Scranton also says anyone can file a report with the FDA

through the MedWatch form if they experience an adverse reaction. One report might not seem like much, but multiple reports could spark real action

With Straight Arrow News, I'm Kennedy Felton. Download our app or visit san.com for more