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Director of the Momiji Natural Corporation Japan , Mrs.Rie Ito who recently introduced Cotton sanitary pads to local women said disposable sanitary pads make a huge impact on human health .

The impact on human health can be illustrated by looking at a small part of the production process of these products. The chlorine that is used to bleach the cotton is toxic to workers and may cause cancer. In addition to this, the vestigial chlorine in the pad or tampon may cause irritation to or allergies in the wearer. For an intensive research paper on the environmental impact of sanitary product production, see Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Sanitary Pads and Tampons , she said.

Addressing local media she said the largest issue with both pads and tampons is disposal. The average woman probably uses about 7000 sanitary pads in her lifetime. �This is not a published statistic- it is one that I have just calculated based on the fact that a woman has her period for 30 years of her life, for a average of 60 days a year and uses an average of 4 pads a day. These pads and tampons go into landfills and since they are often made in part of non-biodegradable products like rayon they contaminate the soil and the aquifers as well as use up precious land, she noted.

Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS)is a disease associated with the use of tampons.

It is caused by Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium. The toxins that this bacterium produces cause fever, rigors, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle aches and rashes to start with, which rapidly deteriorate into extremely low blood pressure and a rapid breakdown of the body�s vital organs.

TSS affects between 1-2/100,000 women in the 15-44 age annually in the USA Statistic showed an 18% increase in the incidence of TSS in the USA from 2002 to 2003. TSS is also associated with the use of inter-uterine contraception devices, people who have had nasal surgery, and people who develop this infection after an operative procedure.

Women in the USA put 11.3 billion \"disposable\" menstrual products per year into landfills or burn them.

500 years is the time that one \"disposable\" menstrual pad will take to partially biodegrade.

An individual woman throws away about ten thousand paper pads or tampons in her lifetime.

French nurses experimented with the first \"disposable\" menstrual products from cellulose surgical gauze during the First World War.

\"Disposable\" menstrual products are not sterilized. Chlorine is used as bleach for paper pulp. 400-700 million pounds of toxins are dumped every year dumped into U.S. waterways, she said.

In World War 1, Chlorine was used as a weapon of war. Dioxins are a bi-product of the chlorine bleaching process. They do not break down and are also suspected to be carcinogenic.

There is evidence to show that dioxins damage the liver and its functioning and also depress human immune systems.

The process that uses chlorine to produce plastics, paints, dyes, bleaching agents, cleaning solvents, aerosols, deodorants, refrigerants, and wood preservatives also produce CFCs that deplete the ozone layer.

She said recently introduced Cloth Sanitary pads could minimise these issues and end impact on human due to the disposable sanitary pads.

She said Green Menstruation is a philosophy that attempts to manage a woman�s monthly period in an environmentally friendly manner. It deals with the use of alternative sanitary products, alternative and natural remedies for stomach cramps, back and leg pains, oedema, PMS and irregular periods.

An estimated two million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals die annually from swallowing plastics including tampon applicators.

�If you can afford it, pay the extra for the organic cotton products.If not, don�t throw away your pads to contaminate the earth.... burn them , she said.

Replying queries she said these pads are very popular in Japan and it is reusable pads .In the long term it is less expensive to buy and produce menstrual pads compared to disposable menstrual pads.

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