Toxic metals have been found in tampons, putting users at risk of fatal health conditions.
All 16 metals, including arsenic, lead, mercury nickel, copper and iron were found in each type of 30 tampons from 14 different brands.
The absorption of metal has been found to increase the risk of dementia, cancer, infertility and diabetes.
Researchers from the University of California found the levels of metal varied depending on whether the tampons were sold in the UK, EU or US, and whether they are organic or supermarket branded.
Jenni Shearston, lead author of the study, said: ‘Despite this large potential for public health concern, very little research has been done to measure chemicals in tampons.
‘To our knowledge, this is the first paper to measure metals in tampons. Concerningly, we found concentrations of all metals we tested for, including toxic metals like arsenic and lead.’
Organic tampons were found to have higher levels of arsenic, while non-organic had higher levels of lead.
Metals are able to contaminate the tampons as the cotton absorbs contaminated water, air or soil.
Some manufacturers even intentionally add them as a pigment.
Ms Shearston added: ‘I really hope that manufacturers are required to test their products for metals, especially for toxic metals.
‘It would be exciting to see the public call for this, or to ask for better labelling on tampons and other menstrual products.’
There has been no tests on what is a ‘safe’ level of metal.
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