NEW
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Menstruation Information / Educational Links
/ and a little humor...
Teaching Teens - Menstruation
Helathlinkusa.com
- Menstruation
Below the Belt
Family
Practice - Slim-Fit Tampons - May 2001
Slim-fit tampons can mistakenly be inserted into the urethra
by young women who have never used tampons before.
Sex
Roles - Recollections of menarche: communication between mothers and daughters
regarding menstruation.- 2002
Women's
Health Interactive - Menstrual Disorders
IVF.com - Georgia Reproductive Specialists
- Female Fertility Finding Out Why Your Periods are Abnormal
Epigee.org - Menstrual
Cycle Disturbances. Why is my period late?
BrainPOP
- Your Period - Shockwave flash movie and quiz to learn about the menstrual
cycle.
FWHC.org - Menstrual Cycles:
What Really Happens in those 28 Days?!
The Sabbath of Women
by Lara Owen
AAP.org - Puberty Information
for Boys and Girls
Vulvar Health - About The
Vulva
The Red Spot
Cultural Revitalization
Blog Spot
If Men Could
Menstruate A Political Fantasy by Gloria Steinem
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Below are a few excerpts from the
FDA's reply
on tampons and asbestos.
I am also including a few comments of my own. FDA - "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked with wood pulp producers to promote use of dioxin-free methods because dioxin is an environmental pollutant. Because of decades of pollution, dioxin can be found in the air, water and ground. Therefore, while the methods used for manufacturing tampons today are considered to be dioxin-free processes, traces of dioxin may still be present in the cotton or wood pulp raw materials used to make tampons. Thus, there may be trace amounts of dioxin present from environmental sources in cotton, rayon, or rayon/cotton tampons." Ruth's Comment: What the EPA fails to point out, is that the "decades of pollution" and the "dioxin present from environmental sources" was caused, in part, by these same wood pulp producers and paper and feminine hygiene manufacturers. Dioxin does not naturally occur in nature. It's a man made waste. Please visit this site regarding Dioxin paying attention to the "History of Dioxin". Also Consumerlawpage - Industry's "True Lies" Subsequent studies have proven the "combustion theory" claims to be more public relations myth than scientific fact. Measurements of dioxin in lake sediments show that dioxin levels dramatically increased after 1940, (Czuczwa, 1984, 1985, 1986) when chemical companies such as Dow began to make products contaminated with dioxin. Other studies reveal that prehistoric humans, who burned wood for fuel, did not have significant quantities of dioxin in their bodies. Tissues from 2,000-year-old Chilean Indian mummies did not have dioxin (Ligon, 1989). EPA states in its reassessment that dioxin can be formed through natural combustion sources, but this contribution to levels in the environment "probably is insignificant". FDA - "Manufacturers have provided FDA with test results of studies conducted at independent laboratories, using the most sensitive test methods available. Dioxin monitoring is a highly technical assay performed at only a few independent expert laboratories in the U.S. The detectable limit of this assay is currently approximately 0.1 to 1 parts per trillion of dioxin. Using these tests, dioxin levels in the rayon raw materials for tampons are reported to be at or below the detectable limit of the state-of-the-art dioxin assay, i.e., approximately 0.1 to 1 parts per trillion." Ruth's Comment: The Playtex tampons I had tested contained between .6 to .7 picograms of dioxin. These tampons were tested using a modified version of USEPA method 1613. FDA "A part per trillion is about the same as one teaspoon in a lake fifteen feet deep and a mile square." Ruth's Comment: I love that comment! They try to make it sound as if one teaspoon in a lake fifteen feet deep and a mile square is not that much. The scary thing is, that parts per trillion can and do have very scary affects. To learn more about parts per trillion and the affects, please follow the links below. Links Explaining PPM, PPB, PPT, and PPQ excerpt from Chapter 3 of Our Stolen Future, Chemical Messengers Kimball's Biology Pages E X T O X N E T - How Much is a Part Per Million? U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Education Center - That's About the Size of It Environmental Illness Society of Canada |
|
Political Links Here are links for finding safe alternative
products: Here Are Some Links
Regarding Tampons Menstruation Art Playtex, Tampax, Kotex, etc. news The Opposition Ruth: It is often claimed that chlorine dioxide methods of bleaching (otherwise known at Elemental Chlorine Free) do not create any "detectable" levels of dioxin. But what many fail to point out is that the tests they are doing cannot detect all levels of dioxin. That's why "theoretically" they can say that the products are dioxin free because they cannot detect them with the test that is used. When I originally started researching and was looking for a place to have my tampons tested. I was told by the companies that do the testing that there were two methods of testing. (There are actually more methods, but just the two mentioned are/were used) The first method was 8290 and if memory serves correctly only could detect to the PPM or PPB level. (This is supposedly the test method that the manufacturers were using when I started this journey.) Method 1613 (which is the method I used to test mine) can detect to the PPT level. Which I believe is the standard method that is used today. From some peoples stand point, the issue of dioxin in these products, may now be a moot point. But from mine, it's not. To say that something can't be detected just because the test that is used is unable to detect all levels, sounds absurd to me. Especially since the FDA and other organizations state that there is no acceptable level of dioxin. Plus another point I try to make is what about all the toxins that are released into the environment before the finished product is even produced? There are and have been totally chlorine free processes that could be used that would not release any dioxin. (Minus of course any level of dioxin that is in the raw materials due to environmental levels of dioxins). You have to keep in mind that now a days even organically grown produce is going to have some level of dioxin because it (dioxin) has pretty much traveled the world over and contaminated everything. DIOXIN
FALLOUT IN THE GREAT LAKES
Forbes.com - Tampon Terrorism by Michael Fumento, 05.17.99 If you would like to see why they
are trying to label us "Eco terrorists" then check out ALEC Watch -
Letting the Sun Shine on Corporate America's Secret Political Arm PR Watch - Terrorism as Pretext Tom Paine Common Sense - Scientists Flacking for Corporations CSPI Newsroom - Corporate Money Co-opts Nonprofit Groups, Says Report IWF
- Health Scares - Please, Just the Facts! Mary Jane, states: "Ruth will tell you it is from tampons and it is from the dioxins in tampons that have given her endometriosis." Please tell me where you and I communicated this. Or for that matter where I have ever stated that. Mary Jane also states "There is no association between endometriosis and tampon use, period, let alone the dioxins in the tampons." Would you please quote your sources on this claim? Have you been privy to information that proves this statement? And since this article was published September 20, 2000, I would expect your data to be dated prior to then. (By the way... I did e-mail the author and the above website years ago.... And I never got a reply.) hmmmm ;-) Mary Jane also states: "But again, you get it on the Internet—this stuff gets publicized without any significant truth behind it whatsoever." I agree with you Mary Jane! Right back at you! Please just the facts! By the way, my site is titled "Ruth's
Page Endometriosis and Dioxin". The Tampon Scare Stephen Barrett, M.D. Chlorine
Chemical Council - 1996 Ruth: One thing that I have noticed over the years, is that it's usually the opposition who tries to say that I (or we...) are stating that tampons cause endometriosis. When I started this research journey, my goal was to learn about the disease that I had developed. When I started reading reports that dioxin may be a factor in causing endo and that there may be dioxin in tampons, etc., I felt I needed to "know". I also felt that I would not and was not getting the full story from the manufacturers. So I had my tampons tested. And of course just like my instincts told me, there was dioxin in the products that I was using. But I also wondered, where is all this dioxin that's in the environment coming from in the first place? And if the products contained between 0.2 parts per trillion to 10 parts per trillion, at a time that the manufacturers were saying that levels were going down due to the elemental chlorine free processes. Then how much had they contained before, during the years that I was growing up before they switched processes? Why do the manufacturers insist on keeping their data secret? Shouldn't they be required by law to divulge this information? Proprietary information my bass! They're withholding data that could prove useful to the medical community and the people that suffer from unexplained diseases. They try to pooh pooh the matter by saying that humans ingest more dioxin via their food supply than what they are exposed to by these products. I concur! But, again where do you think the dioxin that is in the food chain came from? Now the manufacturers are apparently using genetically modified and genetically engineered cotton in these products. In my opinion any product should be required by law to be labeled with the ingredients that are used in its production. Whether I'm eating a can of beans or using a tampon I feel we should have the right to know what is in these products. If tampons are considered medical devices, then why, in some countries are they taxed like luxury items ? Because pads are not worn internally they are not considered medical devices. But considering that the vagina is the most absorbent part on a women's body, shouldn't pads and diapers also be considered medical devices? People tend to focus on the dioxin in tampons issue, but what about dioxin in diapers? What levels of toxins are our children being exposed to for the first years of their life when we diaper them in conventionally produced products? What levels of toxins did these products contain in years past and what affect has this had on children's development? The only way to really know what is in your products is to buy organic. This next link is an abstract of a study that was
done on the Exposure
Assessment to Dioxins from the Use of Tampons and Diapers It states: "The refined exposure analysis
indicates that exposures to dioxins from tampons are approximately 13,000-240,000
times less than dietary exposures. The refined exposure analysis showed
that exposure to dioxins from the diet is more than 30,000-2,200,000
times the exposure through diapers in nursing infants." See also - Endometriosis
Study Challenged - July 31, 2002 I would like to thank Michael DeVito and Arnold Schecter
for doing this study. They are trying to find the truth. Some may say
that this study proves that I am wrong and that there are no dangers
from these products. But I see it as one study that has shown
what the current levels of dioxin are in these products, and
a hypothesis of a comparison between dioxin exposure in these
products and exposure to dioxin via the food supply. Again, where do
you think the dioxin in the environment came from, what were the levels
before the manufacturers started changing their processes, and what
affects may these levels have caused? |
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This Page was last updated on July 4, 2005.
Counter added on June 5, 2003
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* Disclaimer *
I am not a doctor. The information contained within these pages should not be used in place of professional medical treatment.
If you think you may have Endometriosis or any other disease please consult with a medical professional in your area.
Please be patient! This site is under construction & is updated regularly.Copyright © 1997-2004 Ruth's Page - Endometriosis & Dioxin - http://www.frontiernet.net/~ruthb.
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