A lawsuit in California claims that PFAS used in menstrual pads is directly harming women's reproductive health. The suit is targeting Carefree and its parent company, Edgewell. Ecological Alliance is asking for the company to either remove PFAS from its products or place clear warnings on all their packaging.
What is PFAS?
PFAS is a huge group of manmade chemicals that have been used in manufacturing for the past several decades. They exhibit a number of extremely useful characteristics including being waterproof, grease resistant, heat resistant, and non-stick. This means they are widely used in cookware, stain-resistant coatings, waterproof clothing, and food packaging. The problem is, PFAS are extremely resilient chemicals, and can persist in the environment and human body for years.
What are the health effects of PFAS?
Scientific evidence is increasingly linking PFAS with a wide range of different health effects. These include:
- Kidney, and pancreatic cancer
- Reproductive health issues
- Testicular cancer and male infertility
- Reduced birth weight and childhood development issues
- Cardiovascular disease
- Immunosuppression and reduced childhood vaccine response
One of the challenges for researchers is the sheer number of different compounds, many of which are closely related to each other. A second problem is that the health effects are chronic and cumulative over many years. This makes it difficult to conduct clinical studies to prove linkage and researchers instead have to use epidemiological approaches.
One good example is PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). This substance was one of the first PFAS to be developed, and was widely used for decades. By the late 1990s, it was clear that it was accumulating in the environment and people began to raise health concerns. In the 2000s, a voluntary moratorium saw it being phased out in the US and other countries. However, there are many other closely related compounds, with the same structure, but a larger or smaller number of fluorine molecules (PFOA has 8). Last year, the UN IARC categorized PFOA as a group 1 carcinogen. This means it is proven to be carcinogenic to humans. To date, there has been insufficient research to conclude whether any of the related compounds are also carcinogenic.
Why is PFAS found in menstrual products?
In their lawsuit, Ecological Alliance claims to have identified PFOA in Carefree’s menstrual pads. SInce PFOA is effectively banned within the US, it isn’t clear how it is getting into the pads. However, there are a few possible routes. FIrstly, many water supplies have extremely high levels of PFOA, because it takes decades to break down fully in the environment. It could also be that one of the many related chemicals, such as PFDA, are being used (PFDA is a 10 fluorine version of PFOA). PFOA and its related chemicals are often used because of their water resistant ability. PFDA is known to break down to PFOA under the right conditions.
The most concerning thing about this is that PFOA is directly linked to reproductive health issues. Furthermore, recent research proves that PFAS compounds are readily absorbed through the skin. This makes the presence of PFOA in menstrual pads hugely worrying.
What can I do if I am worried about this?
Avoiding PFAS completely is really hard. It is now so pervasive that the CDC believes almost every US adult has it within their bloodstream. However, if you are concerned about PFAS in products like menstrual pads, you can try to find truly PFAS-free products. The problem is, manufacturers may claim a product is PFAS-free because it doesn’t directly use PFAS in its manufacture. However, PFAS could still be present through supply chain contamination, PFAS in the water supply, or other routes.
Some companies and organizations test products for the presence of PFAS. For instance, Mamavation has a list of menstrual products that have been tested for PFAS.
Can I get tested for PFOA?
If you are worried about your own exposure to PFAS in general, and PFOA in particular, you should get tested. PFAS blood tests can identify and quantify many of the common PFAS compounds. The Relentless Health PFAS Core Panel identifies PFOA and 17 other PFAS compounds using a simple, at-home finger prick blood test. Five of these other compounds are versions of PFOA with different numbers of fluorine molecules.
