Insight
The toxic period care crisis: 10 innovators making a difference
By Fard Johnmar, health futurist, strategist, and co-founder of the FemAging Project
Lead, arsenic and cadmium. All harmful heavy metals commonly found in wastewater — and tampons? Unfortunately, yes.
Earlier this year, researchers from the University of California conducted a first-of-its kind study examining tampons — both organic and non-organic — sold in the United States and Europe.
Organic tampons had higher levels of arsenic. Non-organic tampons had elevated lead concentrations. There is no known safe level of lead exposure.
Heightening concern about the presence of heavy metals in tampons is uncertainty about whether these contaminants are leaching into women’s bodies.
Surprisingly, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates tampons for their safety, manufacturers are not required to test products for contaminants.
While this study was shocking, there is growing evidence that many period care products may be contaminated.
For example, less well-known research conducted by the New York Times in 2023, found that nearly half of the 44 tampons, period underwear, menstrual cups, disposable and reusable menstrual pads it tested had some level of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), better known as “forever chemicals.”
PFAS are associated with a range of health risks, including delayed puberty, lower bone mineral density and even type 2 diabetes in women.
The period care industry is also the source of another problem: environmental pollution.
Every month, around 1.8 billion people globally menstruate. Single-use period products create more than 200,000 metric tons of waste annually.
On an individual level, the average woman will dispose of more than 400 pounds of period product packaging during her lifetime.
Many are made of plastics, which contribute to the growing environmental problem of microplastics in ocean water.
How Have Consumers Reacted?
Concerns about heavy metals and the environmental impact of period care products may accelerate a growing shift in consumer preferences for more sustainable, healthy options.
In 2023, the Week reported that sales of tampons in the United Kingdom fell by 12 per cent over the previous five years.
Immediately after the publication of the toxic tampon study, sales of menstrual cups, which offer several advantages, including being reusable and environmentally friendly, surged.
Some retailers in the United States, such as Target, ran out of supply.
10 Innovators Working to Solve the Period Care Crisis
Some innovators have been working to address the health and environmental impacts of period care for decades.
One trailblazer is Susie Hewson, MBE who founded the period care company Natracare in 1989.
Natracare’s tampons and other period care products are regularly tested for contaminants, including heavy metals, PFAS and plastics.
Over the last decade, a range of other period care companies have emerged, many of them founded by women.
Below are nine other innovative, well-known, and rising companies focused on delivering innovative, environmentally friendly, and safe period care products to women from around the world.
- The Flex Co: An innovator in the menstrual cup industry, with a broad product portfolio of solutions, sold at over 25,000 retailers in the United States. Recently, Flex Co. ramped up production of its menstrual cups because of increased demand following the publication of the toxic tampons study. Location: United States | W: https://flexfits.com
- Vyld: This company is producing sustainable, marine biodegradable and healthy period products manufactured from seaweed. Location: Germany | W: https://www.vyldness.de
- Lemme Be: Launched in response to the growing need for health, safety, and comfort in period care, the company delivers sustainable menstrual cups, reusable period panties and other products. Location: India | W: https://lemmebe.com
- Inertia: A new South Korea-based period care company. They sell organic, sustainable micro-plastic-free sanitary pads using plant-based technology. Location: South Korea | W: https://inertiabio.com
- Lola: Lola sells sustainable products for period care, sexual wellness and vaginal health. The company is focused on delivering clean, non-toxic products with clear labels made without synthetic fibers, fragrance, chlorine or other additives. Location: United States | W: https://mylola.com
- Sunny: Sunny has developed a sustainable menstrual cup product that inserts like a tampon. Location: United States | W: https://sunnyperiod.com
- Rael: Menstrual care and feminine wellness company that provides pads, tampons, pantyliners and period underwear made of natural and organic ingredients.
Location: United States | W: https://www.getrael.com - Aisle: Aisle is an award-winning social impact business that specializes in sustainable alternatives to disposable menstrual products through their line of period underwear, washable cloth menstrual pads and menstrual cups.
Location: Canada | W: https://periodaisle.com - Trace: Offers a first-of-its kind sanitary pad with non-toxic, pesticide-free hemp fiber, grown by hand-selected farming partners. Location: United States | W: https://traceyourtampon.com
About the Author:
Fard Johnmar is a health futurist, strategist, and co-founder of the FemAging Project, a global initiative focused on driving women’s health innovation — especially for those aged 40+.
Data and insights in this article were sourced from Femalytics, an intelligence and membership platform for women’s health change-makers.
At Femalytics’ core is a growing database of thousands of market insights and more than 30,000 organizations across numerous categories relevant to women’s health.
Femalytics also features Femmaya, a unique AI assistant powered by the rich and robust Femalytics database.
Learn more about Femalytics and experience Femmaya for free at www.femalytics.com.
An early PET scan after one cycle of chemotherapy may help predict how aggressive breast cancer responds to treatment, a study suggests.
Research led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London and King’s College London suggests that an early scan taken after one cycle of chemotherapy could help predict how well a patient’s cancer will respond to treatment.
The study focused on patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of the disease in which cancer cells lack receptors for the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, as well as the HER2 protein.
Patients with TNBC are usually treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery. While many respond well, residual disease at surgery, typically around six months later, is associated with a significantly poorer prognosis. Identifying people sooner who are unlikely to respond remains a major clinical challenge.
The research explored whether using PET imaging shortly after treatment begins, rather than relying only on MRI scans later in the treatment process, could provide earlier insight into how a patient’s cancer is responding. Twenty-two patients were recruited, with fourteen undergoing FDG-PET scans before treatment and after the first cycle of chemotherapy.
The findings, published in Clinical Cancer Research, showed that changes seen on PET scans after just one cycle of chemotherapy were strongly associated with subsequent response, including whether there was no detectable cancer, known as a complete response, by the end of treatment. Importantly, early PET response showed stronger associations with treatment outcomes than standard mid-treatment MRI scans in this study.
Being able to identify patients who are not responding well at an early stage could allow clinicians to adjust treatment sooner or consider alternative approaches. These findings may also support future strategies to better tailor treatment intensity to individual patients.
The study also compared two types of PET tracers, FDG and FLT, to determine which was most suitable. While both met the study’s technical criteria, FDG-PET was selected for further evaluation due to its better image quality, greater consistency and wider use in clinical practice.
The research also explored how imaging changes after just one cycle of chemotherapy relate to the body’s immune response to treatment. Biopsies taken before and after the first cycle of chemotherapy showed that an increase in immune cells within the tumour was strongly associated with both early PET changes and improved treatment outcomes.
The researchers emphasise that these findings now need to be validated in larger studies. Future work will aim to confirm these results in broader patient groups and explore more accessible imaging approaches, such as ultrasound, alongside PET and MRI.
Sheeba Irshad, professor of cancer immunology at King’s College London and lead of the Breast Cancer Now KCL Research Unit, said:
“In patients who had PET scans both before treatment and after the first cycle, we found that this early scan could predict whether they were likely to achieve a complete response by the end of treatment. These findings highlight the potential of early imaging to guide treatment decisions, and now need to be validated in larger, modern clinical trials.”
Andrew Tutt, professor of breast oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:
“Research that helps us determine early who is already benefitting from standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy and who might benefit from clinical trials to find better treatments is vital. This study shows that FDG-PET may have great value in this regard. We hope to be able to design studies that further investigate and validate these findings.”
The study was supported by funding from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Breast Cancer Now, Cancer Research UK, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
Ki-67, a protein used to measure tumour growth, may also help prevent chromosome errors that drive cancer, a study suggests.
The findings could change how scientists view Ki-67, a marker commonly used in breast cancer and other tumours to assess how quickly cancer cells are growing.
Researchers found the protein may help preserve genome stability by maintaining the structural integrity of centromeres, key parts of chromosomes that help ensure DNA is shared correctly during cell division.
The research was led by professor Paola Vagnarelli at Brunel University of London in collaboration with scientists at the University of Edinburgh and the Technical University of Berlin.
Professor Vagnarelli said: “Doctors already measure Ki-67 to see how aggressive a cancer might be. But our results suggest it is actually helping maintain genome stability.
“That means it may be more than a marker. It could potentially also be a therapeutic target.”
The study examined three proteins that attach to chromosomes during cell division and help rebuild the molecular system that tells each new cell what kind of cell it is.
Every human cell carries identical DNA. What makes a liver cell different from a brain cell is which genes are switched on and which are kept inactive.
When a cell divides, that entire system of switches must be rebuilt. The three proteins involved in this process were Ki-67, Repo-Man and PNUTS.
Vagnarelli’s team developed a method that individually removes each protein from a living cell at the precise point of division. Older techniques could not isolate that moment cleanly.
They found that cells rely on all three proteins to reset themselves after division, but each failed in a different way when removed.
Without PNUTS, gene activity spiralled out of control and thousands of genes switched on at once.
Without Repo-Man, cells escaped safety checkpoints that usually stop damaged or abnormal cells from continuing to divide.
“What we didn’t expect was how clean the separation was,” said Vagnarelli.
Each protein fails in its own specific way. There is no redundancy, no safety net. Which means there are three separate points at which this process can go wrong.
“When the system breaks down, cells can emerge with the wrong number of chromosomes. That condition, called aneuploidy, is seen in disorders such as Down syndrome and in many cancers.
“We also found that these chromosome errors can trigger inflammatory signals inside the cell.”
Aneuploidy means a cell has too many or too few chromosomes, which can disrupt normal growth and function.
Inflammatory signals are chemical messages that can make a cell behave as if it is responding to injury or infection.
“These cells behave almost as if they are under attack,” said Vagnarelli.
“The immune response switches on because the genome is unstable.
“That link between chromosome imbalance and inflammation could help explain patterns we see in several diseases.”
The researchers said the findings may help cancer scientists better understand how chromosome instability, loss of gene regulation and cells dividing before they are ready contribute to tumour growth.
They said understanding the normal machinery that prevents these errors may help researchers find ways to push cancer cells into making mistakes they cannot survive.
“We now have a clearer map of the machinery that resets the cell after division,” said Vagnarelli.
“That knowledge gives us a starting point for thinking about new therapeutic approaches.”
After more than a decade of campaigning, doctors around the world have agreed to rename polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
It is hoped the new name, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS, will help end the misconception that the condition is all about cysts, which campaigners say has contributed to missed diagnoses and inadequate treatment.
The condition affects one in eight women, or 3.1m women and girls in the UK, and is linked to hormone fluctuations that can affect weight, mental health, skin and the reproductive system.
The renaming was spearheaded by UK patient charity Verity alongside Professor Helena Teede, director of Melbourne’s Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation.
It followed 14 years of consultation with clinicians and patients around the world.
The new name was published in a consensus statement on May 12 and announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague.
The paper states that PCOS should now be referred to as PMOS.
“This is a landmark moment that will lead to desperately-needed worldwide advancements in clinical practice and research,” said Professor Teede.
“It was heart-breaking to see the delayed diagnosis, limited awareness and inadequate care afforded those affected by this neglected condition.”
When doctors first named PCOS in 1935, they thought it was mainly caused by physical changes to the ovaries.
Decades of research have since changed that understanding, with clinicians now agreeing the condition is far more complex.
“What we now know is that there is actually no increase in abnormal cysts on the ovary and the diverse features of the condition were often unappreciated,” Professor Teede added.
“A name change was the next critical step towards recognition and improvement in the long term impacts of this condition.”
The exact cause of the condition is still unknown, though it is thought to be linked to abnormal hormone levels and is associated with insulin resistance and raised levels of testosterone and luteinising hormone.
Insulin resistance means the body does not respond properly to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar. Luteinising hormone helps regulate ovulation.
Common symptoms listed by the NHS include irregular periods or no periods at all, difficulty getting pregnant, excessive hair growth, weight gain, thinning hair, oily skin and acne.
Campaigners have acknowledged that the name change could cause temporary confusion.
“Despite decades of tireless advocacy to improve awareness, we recognised that the risk of change would be worth the reward,” said Rachel Morman, chairwoman of Verity.
“This shift will reframe the conversation and demand that it is taken as seriously as the long-term, complex health condition it is.”
It is also unclear if, or when, the NHS will change the language it uses.
An NHS England spokesperson said: “We routinely review and update content on the NHS website to ensure it reflects the latest clinical advice and will carefully consider these recommendations.
“The NHS will also continue our work to improve women’s healthcare, including for this important group, which involves giving women more choice over their care, bringing down waiting times, and delivering more care in communities.”
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