Health: Secret Toxics Inside Menstrual Products Cause Alarm

"Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require the National Institutes of Health to research whether menstrual hygiene products that contain chemical additives like chlorine and fragrances are health risks. The Robin Danielson Act of 2014 would ask the Federal Drug Administration to monitor and publish information on the presence of these contaminants in a broad range of products such as pads, liners, cups and sponges used by millions of American women.

'American women spend over $2 billion per year on menstrual hygiene products,' Maloney said. 'This bill will help determine the health effects of the entire range of hygiene products and provide women with the information they need to make informed choices.'

About half of the U.S. population uses menstrual hygiene products, but they are kept in the dark about what’s inside them. For a product so intimately connected to women’s health, advocates say that the lack of disclosure of what’s in these products could pose a danger."

Lisa De Bode reports for Aljazeera America May 29, 2014.