WTF.

When transplanted from a pretty no-nonsense, dusty West Texas town to Southern California, there was a fair amount of culture shock.

A banana is considered a junk food.
People get legitimately offended if you do not follow back their dog’s Instagram account.
Half the guys on Bumble don’t have real jobs and do hot yoga at 10 am on weekdays.
Brunch is a weekly holiday of which the first half is spent discussing how much traffic there is on the 405 & the second half talking about if the organic frittata or the organic quiche is better.

For real – you can tell the number of $ signs a restaurant has by looking at whether or not every dish on the menu starts with “organic.” Organic Farmer’s Market Veggie Frittata. Organic Duck Egg Pie. Organic coffee that has been sustainably sourced.

...$$$$

“Excuse me… waiter? I’m not 12, but can I just see the kids menu?”

Chalking this whole organic thing up to being a bunch of California-woo-woo was easy

until, I got served an ad on Instagram for organic cotton tampons...

“You have got to be kidding me. why on Earth anyone would care whether or not the cotton going up their hoo-ha was organic or not.”

But just before I swiped onto another meme account’s story, I noticed their tag line - “No B.S. ever. Made for women. By women.” (I work in marketing. I’m mega down with no BS.)

so i did my research.

Wanna know something feaky? The FDA doesn’t require tampon companies to disclose what is in their tampons. Definition DGAF.

According to this Huffington post article average female uses 9,000+ tampons in her lifetime. If I’m spending a quarter of my adult life with a tampon as my sidekick… why yes, I actually do care what is in it.

So What Kind of Bad Juju Is In There?

Synthetic fibers.
Chemical additives.
Fragrance.
Dyes.
Chlorine bleach.
GMOs.
Pesticides.
Toxins.
Latex.
Formaldehyde.

Buckle up. It gets freakier…

According to Dr. Maggie Ney from the Women’s Clinic at the Akasha Center, 90% of cotton produced in the U.S. has been genetically modified to be resistant to a chemical called glyphosate which is used to kill weeds competing with cotton for soil, nutrients, water, etc. In this article published by The Guardian, Ney states that glyphosate was recognized by the World Health Organization as “probably carcinogenic.” Award-winning EPA scientist, Marion Copley, stated she was “essentially certain” that glyphosate caused cancer before she recently passed away (ironically, or perhaps not so ironically, from cancer).

However, that is just one side of the story. There is a rather heated debate among scientists and politicians along with something fishy going on with important research documents, see here.

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Okay… So Translation?

Because vaginal walls are super permeable and absorbent, anything that comes into contact with it can be passed into the bloodstream... especially with chronic exposure.

What does chronic exposure manifest as?

Increase risk of cancer.
Metabolic changes.
Disrupted endocrine system.

Do you have the heeby jeebies yet? Me too. While clearly controversial and not recognized across the board, one side does firmly believes there could be a chance there are cancer-causing chemicals in our tampons. And for me, a recovering germaphobe, that's quite enough.

What Can We Do About It?

Really only one thing - Do. Your. Damn. Research.

I have found a brand of tampons that is organic – Lola. And yes, it was the one from the Instagram ad. Congrats to their social media manager – #JobSecurity.

Full transparency and made of 100% organic cotton (sourced from Europe but manufactured in the U.S.)
No GMOs or any of that scary stuff listed above.
No BPA plastic in the applicator (which is a whole different can of worms!)

It shows up on my doorstep every month and I get to pick how many light, regular, super, and super plus there are.

(Side note: Super Plus? #YTho? 100% a balding man in the the 50's came up with that BS copy).