Investigating links between heavy metals in menstrual hygiene products and reproductive hormonal health

Overview

Nic Corcrain’s research poster reports a small C-tier menstrual-product leaching experiment and a participant survey. The occurrence-relevant result is that tampons released lead into synthetic vaginal fluid at 0.66-6.35 ppb, while menstrual cups were reported as <1 ppb. Arsenic was targeted, but the poster says arsenic detection was compromised by background contamination, so no arsenic occurrence value is recorded.

Key numbers

• Product testing: four menstrual products were incubated in synthetic vaginal fluid and analyzed for Pb and As leaching at 3, 5, and 7 hours using ICP-MS.
• Lead leaching: the poster states that tampons released substantially more lead (0.66-6.35 ppb) than menstrual cups (<1 ppb), with levels plateauing over time.
• Arsenic: the ICP-MS procedure showed high precision and sensitivity for lead, but arsenic detection was “compromised by background contamination”; no arsenic concentration is therefore usable as occurrence evidence.
• Physical observations: all menstrual products dissolved cleanly in simulated vaginal fluid, maintaining stable pH with no visible precipitates except faint cloudiness in one tampon replicate.
• Survey frame: 147 participants were surveyed; the visible age-group table lists 101 respondents aged 18-24, 22 aged 25-34, 2 aged 35-44, and 4 aged 45-55, which sums to 129, so the table appears to be a displayed subset or incomplete rendering relative to the poster’s 147 text.
• Symptom survey context: symptom burden was higher among tampon users (M = 5.1) than pad users (M = 4.3) and period-underwear users (M = 3.2); this is survey context, not product occurrence data.
• Diagnosis-likelihood context: the poster states that when tampon use was combined with early menarche, diagnosis likelihood rose to 64%; this is not used as a product concentration value.

Methods (brief)

The poster reports two approaches: a survey of menstruating individuals ages 18-55 across multiple countries, and laboratory incubation of four menstrual products in synthetic vaginal fluid. Lead and arsenic were analyzed by ICP-MS at 3, 5, and 7 hours. The poster references an unpublished undergraduate research report for the laboratory results.

Implications

Certification (HMTc): This source is a small, unpublished C-tier leaching signal for menstrual products. It is not suitable for standards pooling without the underlying report, but it documents a lead-leaching range for tampons under simulated vaginal-fluid conditions.

Courses: The poster is useful for teaching how to separate a measurable occurrence value (Pb 0.66-6.35 ppb) from a targeted but unusable value (arsenic compromised by background contamination).

App: The source can support a low-confidence note that menstrual-product exposure literature is moving from total content toward simulated-fluid leaching, while keeping the C-tier status clear.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• Menstrual tampons (scented/unscented; applicator tested as distinct component)
• Menstrual cups (silicone/latex/other polymers)
• Menstrual pads (disposable, panty liners, intralabial pads, reusable menstrual pads)
• Period underwear and reusable menstrual garments

Verification notes

• PDF text was extracted with pdftotext -layout to /tmp/hmi_row_1570.txt; because the source is a one-page poster, the full extracted text was re-read.
• Identity checks before creation: the candidate cite key nic-corcrain2025-menstrual-products-metal-leaching, raw handle MFK_f1000research-777517, raw SHA-256 ecfc4d7e696181419f88b9be66bdb36cd880de7b26a1f2c973e184882c741dce, and title phrase were searched in wiki/sources/ and evidence files; no existing source page was found.
• The intake CSV DOI 10.3390/pathogens11060618 belongs to a cited Pathogens article on vaginal mucosa, not to this poster; the poster itself has no DOI in the extracted text or PDF metadata.
• Units are preserved as ppb; no conversion to µg/L was made.
• Speciation: arsenic is listed as a target analyte but no arsenic number is used because the poster reports background contamination.
• Brand firewall: the poster states brand-dependent differences but does not print brand names in the extracted text; no brand names are attached to values.

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.