Consumers have been encouraged to believe that white means clean, and that substances like
chlorine bleach are not only safe, but beneficial.
It is obvious that tampons used to absorb menstrual blood do not need to be white no woman
we have surveyed sees a need for bright white menstrual pads or tampons. Not only are "whiter
than white" chlorine bleached products unneeded, but their production and use causes tremendous
health and environmental damage.
Chlorine is a chemical element, a heavy greenish yellow gas used as a bleach, oxidizing agent
and disinfectant. It is used to make plastics, pesticides, solvents and other chemicals, and to treat
sewage. Commercial chlorine chemistry began in the early 20th century.
Chlorine is the common link and root cause of many global environmental problems
widespread dioxin contamination, PCB pollution, DDT poisoning, human health effects from
Agent Orange exposure, and ozone destroying CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons).
Chlorine is such a dangerous environmental toxin because it binds to organic matter to produce
chemicals called organochlorines almost all of which are foreign to nature. The majority of
organochlorines are very stable; in other words they will not break down in the environment for
hundreds of years. This persistence is combined with the tendency of these chlorine based poisons
to bioaccumulate, meaning that over time they build up in the body fat of humans and other
animals.
One hundred and seventy seven (177) different organochlorines have been found in the fat,
mother's milk, semen, blood and breath of the average human population in Canada and the U.S.
Each person has a unique level at which this build up becomes critical and triggers a wide range
of health problems. Well known effects of chronic organochlorine contamination include
hormonal disruption, infertility and lowered sperm counts, immune system suppression, learning
disabilities, behavioral changes, and damage to the skin, liver and kidneys. Newborns, infants,
children, childbearing women and the elderly are even more vulnerable to these health impacts.
The entire planet is now blanketed with these poisons. Even human, animal and marine life at
the North and South poles -- thousands of miles from the sources of chlorine pollution -- show
signs of chlorine based toxic contamination.
Ozone destruction caused by organochlorines is causing epidemics of skin cancer, cataracts and
infectious disease due to immune system disorders.
Dioxin, another organochlorine, is produced via a combination of chlorine compounds and
organic matter. The deadliest substance known to humankind, dioxin is known to impair
reproduction and the immune system at doses measured in parts per trillion. No safe level of
chlorine use/dioxin exposure can be considered safe, and the greatest risk is to developing
children and fetuses. The subtle reproductive and health effects occur at doses low
enough to present no blatant effects, and is insiduously spreading slowly throughout populations.
Epidemic problems from dioxin exposure are occurring in over 13 species of fish and wildlife in
the Great Lakes, including infertility and birth defects. The most profound effects are showing in
the offspring of exposed species. Babies born to mothers in the Great Lakes region who ate 2
meals of Great Lakes fish per month were born sooner, weighed less and had smaller heads than
infants whose mothers did not eat the fish.
Other studies have shown a link between tampons which contain dioxin and cancers of the
female reproductive tract.