Tampons are Killing women: The tampon conspiracy

Originally posted by WestPoint23
As for the tampons killing our women thing, well lets just say I’ve been around a few who wear them, some my entire life and they aren't dropping dead,

Well there has already been a respsonse from someone on this thread telling of how they nearly died of TSS from a tampon.

There really is no need for bleaching of the tampons amongst other things. Im suprised people in this thread think the whole issue is so funny. Wierd.

Ive never used tampons. Wadded cotton shoved uncerimoniously into my neither regions never appealed to me. Ive always been an "external" kind of person.

Im not much for the moon cup either, however. Tried it, its just as invasive and its uncomfprtable.

Originally posted by earthtone
There really is no need for bleaching of the tampons amongst other things. Im suprised people in this thread think the whole issue is so funny. Wierd.

I don’t think it's funny in that sense but this notion does amuse me because I don’t think it’s true. As for the bleaching, there must be some reason for it; all the companies wouldn’t waste time/money/effort bleaching tampons if there wasn’t a reason for it. And no I seriously doubt they have little secret meetings plotting on how they’re going to kill off women. LMAO. I know this is ATS but c’mon!

Originally posted by earthtone
Im suprised people in this thread think the whole issue is so funny.

I don't think people find the issue itself funny, so much as maybe just a little bit exaggerated.

The fact of the matter is that there are many products, especially when related to personal health, that you can find in any common drugstore which, if used incorrectly, can pose serious health risks.

The important thing is for people to weigh those risks and choose whatever they feel is right for them.

The beautiful thing is that we live in a time when there are options availabe to suit individual tastes and needs.

So there's something for everyone and no one (in this case) is being forced to put unwanted chemicals in their....up their.....well, you get the idea.

[edit on 8/17/06 by redmage]

First... did you notice that these are fairly old links?

Originally posted by earthtone
In case you didnt know guys and gals.....TAMPONS ARE KILLING WOMEN

Links:
The question's absorbing: 'Are tampons little white lies?'
The truth about tampons
Whats in your tampons?

This issue initially arose in 1995. Women created quite an uproar, manufacturers were sued or threatened with lawsuits, and things changed quickly.

A lot of times these issues are promoted by people who had problems with the product (a good example is the woman who started a campaign against asperatame.) They have conditions created by this, and it's urgent and critical to them. They extrapolate this to: EVERYONE IS GONNA HAVE MY SAME SYMPTOMS REALSOONNOW! CALL OUT THE COPS!

As Tampax has pointed out, we women have been using their products for nearly 70 years now. There hasn't been a huge rise in the suggested problems during that time period. In fact, we should have seen an incredible increase in cancers in the 1950's if this data is true... but we didn't.

So take these reports with a grain of salt.

And when you see an "OHMYGOD! WE HAVE PROBLEMS!!!!" page, do check to see how old their info is and whether the issue has been addressed.

Byrd and Westpoint 23, there have been reports of women being killed by toxic shock. This is not to say that it's an epidemic but it does happen, it almost happened to me and I'm not lying or exagerating. I'm passing on what the doctor told me. But how about this? How do we know that say, the rise in breast cancer isn't connected to tampon use? Or some other forms of cancer, say ovarian? What else might it be causing that we don't know about because it hasn't been studied?

Yes, it's good to take thse things with a grain of salt of course. But the reality is that it canhappen. The trick is to make sure they're not inside you for a long period of time. It's easy to forget if you've put one in and then insert another one, which pushes the first one way up inside, so that you don't know that it's still there - which is what happened to me.

I think that corporations make harmful things to people all the time. On a small scale, did you know that there is lots of alcohol in hand lotion? Alcohol dries the skin why would they do that? Well, you use it and an hour later your hands are so dry again that you need to use more and more of their hand lotion product - it makes money for you. So I started making my own lotion, and only need to use it once a day and it works great, is cheaper too. I'm not saying companies delibeerately kill their consumers, but I do think they do not take all necessary precautions to make sure it doesn't injure anyone. Back in the 1950's there were 13 corporations that found out some of their chemical products were highly dangerous and lethal. Employees were dying of cancers and getting weird rashes, some of them had holes in their hands. What did thse corps do? They got together and signed a pact not to ever let anyone find out about the danger of these chemicals.

I think they bleach them so they're a nice pretty white. Many manufacturers think that the consumer wants something that looks clean and hygenic, unlike something that is unbleached, so maybe that's why they use bleach.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use tampons, just that we need to be careful and not leave them in too long.

Originally posted by forestlady
On a small scale, did you know that there is lots of alcohol in hand lotion? Alcohol dries the skin why would they do that?

Err… because alcohol evaporates really quickly which is ideal if you want your lotion to take effect and dry out? Do you really want your hands all oily and creamy for an hour?

Originally posted by forestlady
It's easy to forget if you've put one in and then insert another one, which pushes the first one way up inside, so that you don't know that it's still there - which is what happened to me.

And maybe it’s just me but I’m having trouble seeing this, and I don’t want to get too personal but how can you forget that you have something up your... you know? Especially given how sensitive that area is.

And as for the rise in breast cancer, I’m not a doctor but there could be a slew of other reasons, one which comes to my mind is better medical equipment. Whose’ to say that the percentage of the population getting breast cancer isn’t the same now as it was 50 or 100 years ago. We just get checked more often nowadays and have better equipment to detect it, could that be the reason for the seeming "rise"?

Rumors about tampons circulated wildly through email several years ago. Scaring the bejeezus out of several of my women friends.
Not quite believing what I was reading, I went to the internet to do a little digging around.

The links are still there.
urbanlegends.about.com
search.atomz.com

As has been mentioned, nothing should remain for hours and hours internally. This is not a sterile item, imo, and could breed all sorts of nasties. They could be perfectly safe used as intended and cause all types of horror if forgotten.

There are alternatives for women these days.
feminine sponge
another alternative


[edit on 17-8-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

anyway, inferior women's products have other stories ... other products that should have never been made in the first place.
*corsets (this still has a market, and I'm likely to get one, jsut for fun...but they really aren't good for you, in general)
*women's bikes (seriously, the design typical of girls bikes is not as strong as the boy counterpart, always rode a guys bike, becuase my dad, the welder, couldn't stand shoddy workmanship)
*certain "sex toys" like tightening creams Others here too
*inferior (more accurately severely limited) but not neceserily dangerous: Backpacks Sportswoman rant
I must be tired because I can't think of anything more right now.

Originally posted by forestlady
Byrd and Westpoint 23, there have been reports of women being killed by toxic shock.

I have no doubt about this! I remember the lawsuits and other actions about this and the warning labels that subsequently came about as a result.

How do we know that say, the rise in breast cancer isn't connected to tampon use? Or some other forms of cancer, say ovarian?

Look at the mortality statistics.

It's easy to forget if you've put one in and then insert another one, which pushes the first one way up inside, so that you don't know that it's still there - which is what happened to me.

And in the other case that I heard about... same thing. It's a grim and scary thing!

I'm not saying we shouldn't use tampons, just that we need to be careful and not leave them in too long.

I'm with you on this one!!! Maybe we need to make sure that our daughters are educated on this (a moot point for my daughter, who has had to have a complete hysterectomy because of endometriosis.) It's just that the original post sounded a bit too much like "NEVER, EVER USE THESE EVIL THINGS!" -- and frankly, compared to the pad, they're a lot more pleasant to use and more hygenic.

(of course, I was one of those unfortunates with the "red sea" type of bleeding. Pads were a misery!)

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Rumors about tampons circulated wildly through email several years ago. Scaring the bejeezus out of several of my women friends.
Not quite believing what I was reading, I went to the internet to do a little digging around.

The links are still there.
urbanlegends.about.com
search.atomz.com

Good catch! I didn't even think to check to see if it was pretty much the status of an urban legend. I do remember those emails, though -- we had one woman in the office who seemed to get every one of them and to pass them along, too. After replying to her with a lot of Snopes articles, she eventually calmed down about these rumors.

Originally posted by redmage
The beautiful thing is that we live in a time when there are options availabe to suit individual tastes and needs.

But the point is that not everyone can offord organic tampons or are educated enough to know the long term risks of cancer(s) associated with using bleached tampons.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
And no I seriously doubt they have little secret meetings plotting on how they’re going to kill off women. LMAO. I know this is ATS but c’mon!

No but 'they' certainly don't mind about the percentage of the population who do suffer TSS, or the fact that in an ideal world womens sanitary products should not have harmfull chemicals in them. It should be banned. Im sorry if the 'occassional' TSS death or the higher risks of cancer in don't bother you, but I believe that it is a basic right that such a neccesity should be chemical free. Just like many other products that are out there.

And believe me, many people are not aware of the fact that they even contain harmfull chemicals.

Originally posted by earthtone

But the point is that not everyone can offord organic tampons ....

Are you serious?

By this argument, not everyone can afford chemical "deathpons" either so the argument is mute. :shk:

The point is that there are options out there.

It's up to each to decide what they feel is right for them, not you or I.

Originally posted by redmage

Originally posted by earthtone

But the point is that not everyone can offord organic tampons ....

Are you serious?

By this argument, not everyone can afford chemical "deathpons" either so the argument is mute. :shk:

The point is that there are options out there.

It's up to each to decide what they feel is right for them, not you or I.

I dont understand your point really. As I said before, people should be made more aware (bigger warnings at least)

anyways, guess im just wierd for thinking this is wrong.

Originally posted by earthtone
Like most products and processes in our capitalist society, its a con. A con that benefits the 'man' . . .

Looks like we need an undercover sister to fight for truth, justice and the female American way...

But on a more serious note,

Shouldn't we all be aware of Toxic Shock by now? I'll admit that that's about as far as I ever went into this issue, for simple, gender-based reasons, but I did ask a few questions about it when I first heard the term.

What is it with large corporations and their seeming need to do the incredibly obviously stupid and offensive. I mean, why does "Big Tabacco" (can someone tell me who "Small Tabacco" and possibly "Medium Tabacco" are?) feel the need to put floor coverings and nuclear initiators in cigarettes? (Remembering a high school poster that listed Linoleum and Polonium amongst other ingredients!), I mean, they have a hard enough time getting us to believe their paid doctors about the non-carcinagous state of tabacco itself, why make the job, and potential lawsuits, harder?

Coca Cola got rid of coc aine in an awful hurry.

Why do auto execs decide the fix will be more expensive than the lawsuit? Haven't they ever heard of punitive damages?

What is it, do you get a lobotomy when you join corporate america and start moving up the chain?

First, we'll take your squeamishness out.

Now that you're in middle management we need your fear of the law to be removed.

Welcome to the boardroom, lets see if we can totally remove your conscience, this shouldn't hurt one bit...

Originally posted by forestlady
Yes, it's good to take thse things with a grain of salt of course. But the reality is that it canhappen. The trick is to make sure they're not inside you for a long period of time. It's easy to forget if you've put one in and then insert another one, which pushes the first one way up inside, so that you don't know that it's still there - which is what happened to me.

Maybe it's easy for you to forget, but I'm overly aware of what's hiding down yonder... There is no forgetting about that.

And because something can happen, yes, this is to be taken in as a possibility. But, all the warnings taken into account, I cannot be comfortable wearing a small diaper that never stays where I want it. I'm too broke and too lazy. Maybe when the end of the world comes, we'll talk about rags and such and so forth. But until then... no. Not for me.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use tampons, just that we need to be careful and not leave them in too long.

This is true.. so very very true!! I can't wait to get it out, for the entire 'woman thing' to be done!!! Can't wait to get old and receive my very own menopause!!!

[edit on 17-8-2006 by Diseria]

Originally posted by Diseria

This is true.. so very very true!! I can't wait to get it out, for the entire 'woman thing' to be done!!! Can't wait to get old and receive my very own menopause!!!

Trust me, be careful what you ask for.
As in so many things in life, the end of one chapter of one's life opens new chapters filled with things no one ever told you.

Originally posted by earthtone
anyways, guess im just wierd for thinking this is wrong.

You do realize that much of the info in your three links in the OP is urban legend?

see this:

Originally posted by Byrd

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Rumors about tampons circulated wildly through email several years ago. Scaring the bejeezus out of several of my women friends.
Not quite believing what I was reading, I went to the internet to do a little digging around.

The links are still there.
urbanlegends.about.com
search.atomz.com

Good catch! I didn't even think to check to see if it was pretty much the status of an urban legend. I do remember those emails, though -- we had one woman in the office who seemed to get every one of them and to pass them along, too. After replying to her with a lot of Snopes articles, she eventually calmed down about these rumors.

[edit on 17-8-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Yeh the point about the asbestos is false, that has been astablished. However it is not urban legend that they are bleached and can increase the risk of cancer/ cause TSS. And it is not an urban legend that the waste from tampons goes into landfills and is not enviromentally friendly. These were the points I was originally making.

When i saw this topic i thought to myself wow.

im partly speechless at this point but being a women and using tampons

has made my life easier in many ways and is extreamly convient

although tampons can be toxic and deadly, you won't exactly die from them easily


TTS:
Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is a rare, but potentially serious disease that has been associated with tampon use. In rare cases, TSS can be fatal. TSS is believed to be caused by toxin-producing strains of the staphylococcus aureus bacterium.
The bacterium that causes TSS is found most commonly on the skin, in the nose, armpit, groin or vagina. In fact, about one third of the population carry it without any problem at all. However, in a very small number of people, certain strains of the bacterium produce toxins that can cause TSS. Most people have the antibodies in their bloodstream to protect them from the toxin if it is produced, but many do not.
TSS can affect anyone--men, women or children. Some cases of TSS are caused by infections following insect bites, burns or surgery. About half of the reported cases are associated with women using tamponsThe link is not clearly understood. However, tampon research shows that the risk of tampon-related TSS is associated with absorbency: the higher the absorbency the higher the risk; the lower the absorbency the lower the risk. That is why a woman should always use the lowest absorbency tampon for her menstrual flow.