17 hours Ago By Caroline Cummings
A proposed bill in the Minnesota Legislature seeks to limit sales of tampons with lead and arsenic in them, after researchers last summer published a study finding toxic metals in the products across the U.S. and Europe.
State law already prohibits lead in consumer items like clothing, cosmetics and toys if they have more than trace amounts of it . This proposal would explicitly add menstrual products to that list and also ban arsenic in them. Under the bill, manufacturers would also have to disclose on labels if there are any other intentionally added synthetic ingredients.
The tampon study out of UC Berkeley's School of Public Health evaluated 16 metals in different brands of tampons. All samples had metals in them, researchers said, but they noted the scope of their work did not look into to what extent those toxins were absorbed in the body or the impact on women's health. It's believed to be the first study looking at chemicals in tampons.
Researchers did not identify brands by name. "Women are using these products for decades of their lives every single month," said Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, who is sponsoring the legislation in that chamber.
"And I'm sitting there reading this report going, no wonder we're seeing increased rates of cervical cancer, hormone issues, all of these problems, because women absorb so much in that area of the body." Coleman has bipartisan co-authors on her bill and a Democrat is carrying a version in the House. Avonna Starck, state director for Clean Water Action Minnesota, also said she's concerned about the impact metals in menstrual products can have on the environment in addition to the health of an individual using them.
"The average person who menstruates spends 1,900 days of their life menstruating, and when you think about the amount of products that that takes — that's a lot of products," Starck said. "Those products end up flushed down the toilet. They end up thrown away.
And the majority of our landfills are leaching into the groundwater." The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration in a statement following the Berkeley study's publication said it planned to evaluate the findings and take any action necessary to protect consumers' health. A spokesperson noted the limitations of the research. The measure, if approved, would follow a new law banning PFAS or "forever chemicals" from consumer items like cosmetics, cookware and cleaning supplies that just took effect earlier this year and phases in a prohibition on PFAS in even more products in the future.
Starck advocated for that change. "I think we really need to start to step back and take a holistic view. So I don't think we're done at period products," Starck said.
The legislation's future is unclear as lawmakers came up against a key deadline Friday , and no hearings in committee have been scheduled in either chamber. Nevertheless, Coleman hopes it will get a closer look at the capitol as the clock winds down to the session's end in mid-May. "Women are saying we are fed up.
And I kind of have a feeling if men—and roles were reversed, this would have been taken care of decades ago," she said. Caroline Cummings is an Emmy-winning reporter with a passion for covering politics, public policy and government. She is thrilled to join the WCCO team.
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