WOMEN AT RISK FROM OVERNIGHT TAMPON USE
An advertising campaign claiming it was safe to wear tampons overnight may have put the health of Canadian women at risk.
In late 1993 Tambrands Ltd., manufacturer of Tampax Tampons, launched an advertising campaign proclaiming that leading gynecologists now considered it safe to wear tampons overnight.
But independent experts fear that overnight tampon use could lead to more cases of toxic shock syndrome. "There is no question that advising women to wear tampons overnight leads to an increased risk of serious disease or death," said medical researcher Philip Tierno, of the New York Medical Center, who has been studying tampon-related health problems for 15 years. Tierno, one of only two independent tampon researchers in North America, is "amazed by this marketing ploy." Almost all the others researchers are funded by tampon companies.
Bruce Garren, spokesperson for Tambrands, says no alterations were made to the product. "We at Tambrands took a very hard look at the old four-to-six-hour time frame and found no increased risk using a tampon four to eight hours. It seems it was a historical common-sense approach to good hygiene which someone wrote years ago and was followed ever since," said Garren.
Tambrands' argument didn't convince Health Canada, which noted that "overnight" does not necessarily denote an eight-hour time frame. This is particularly true for young women, the targets of the ad campaign. Thus, Health Canada ordered Tambrands to remove the logo promoting overnight use from its package.
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is caused by a bacterially produced toxin which, upon entering the bloodstream, can cause a wide scope of problems, ranging from flu-like symptoms to loss of limbs or death. TSS almost exclusively affects women who use tampons.
Ironically, the dangers of overnight tampon use could be eradicated. According to Dr. Tierno, tampons would be safe to use overnight if they were made solely of cotton. All tampons currently manufactured in North America contain synthetic fibres which are excellent breeding grounds for the bacteria which cause TSS. All-cotton tampons are available in Europe, but North American tampon manufacturers are reluctant to change because, according to journalist Robb Cribb, they would have to rely on the fluctuating cotton market, invest millions of dollars to change the manufacturing process and equipment, and indirectly admit that their current product is dangerous.
SOURCE
Author: Robb Cribb
Title: "No overnight solution"
The London Free Press
Date: September 6, 1994
