Not enough is known about the science of pads and tampons
Why more research into the safety of menstrual products is needed
The female reproductive system has an entire branch of medicine, gynaecology, devoted to it. Yet all that effort has more or less neglected a quotidian matter that really ought to be investigated properly. Or rather, not a quotidian matter, but a menstrual one. At any given time, about 300m of the world’s women are menstruating. Of these three-quarters will be using some sort of menstrual product—tampons, pads, pantyliners, cups, period underwear, discs and so on—to regulate their flow. An average woman who employs such devices will use around 15,000 of them during her life. Someone with abnormally heavy periods might need thousands more. And many women wear several products simultaneously, for extra protection.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Period pains”
From the December 17th 2022 edition
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