Dioxiner i tamponger- En försumbar risk eller en fara för kvinnors hälsa?

Sammanfattning: The average woman uses 11,000 tampons during her lifetime. Both sanitary pads and tampons have been proven to contain low levels of dioxins, which are a group of highly toxic environmental pollutants known to cause cancer, reproductive damage and endocrine disruption. Some scientists have concluded that dioxin levels in tampons are insignificant to the overall dioxin exposure of menstruating women. Such levels are 30,000 times lower than the amount derived from dietary intake, and thus can be considered a negligible risk. However, other scientists and Non-Governmental Organisations have critizised not only this neglect but also the decision not to have any administrative authority governing the content and potential risks, at the same level at which other sanitary health products are controlled. This study shows a model in which tampon use proves to contribute very little to dioxin exposure. The overall body burden in a 25 year old woman is 0.18 % greater when using tampons compared to dietary exposure only. In later years, this difference increases, and for a 45 year old, the exposure varies by 0.7 %. Risk assessment shows that tampon use does not affect the risk of exceeding the monthly health limit value set by the World Health Organization (WHO. 2010). However, within the scientific community, knowledge on this issue is limited. This risk assessment could have been more satisfactory and more reliable if data and prior studies had been available. The knowledge about the vagina as a possible path for pollution exposure is not very well known, and more research is needed in order to understand the consequences of dioxins in the vagina, especially as the dioxins directly impact women’s sensitive reproductive organs over a long period of time.