Disposable Pads & the Bleaching Process

We’re exposed to varying degrees of toxic chemicals on a daily basis and menstrual products are only a small fraction of that.

There are several health concerns that people often bring up including bleaching and carcinogens which contribute to the development of cancer.

You’ll hear people say that pads are bleached, but this is a broad description that often gets tossed around without helping to understand the process behind how it happens.

There are many different ways to bleach things, so what does it really mean when “pads are bleached?” You’ll also hear people frequently say that pads contain dioxin which can cause cancer. It’s a little more complicated than that and it’s important to ask the questions, what exactly dioxin? How is it formed? And, where does it come from?

In order to turn the wood into usable material for pads, the wood chips have to undergo a pulping process. Because wood contains lignin which keeps the wood sturdy, lignin is removed so that you get loose cellulose fibers. The pulp gets washed and screened for quality, and now you get into the bleaching process.

Back in the late 1900s, disposable pad manufacturers used a type of bleach that contains chlorine. However, scientists and health researchers began to discover that using chlorine to disinfect products and whiten the color actually released concerning levels of toxins known as dioxin.

Exposure to dioxin in large quantities have been linked to numerous health problems such as delayed fetal and infant brain development, endometriosis, infertility, respiratory disease, and cancer. Dioxin is released into the environment as a byproduct of commercial incineration, chlorine bleaching of pulp, backyard burning, forest fires, and even volcanic eruptions.

Over 90% of the dioxins we’re exposed to comes from air we breath and the food we eat. Once released, dioxins are really hard to remove from the environment and your body. After realizing women were exposing themselves to dangerous toxins through pads and even worse tampons, there were regulations put in place to stop the use of chlorine bleaching methods.

Today, pad companies use two different bleaching methods known as “Elemental-Chlorine Free” (ECF) or “Totally Chlorine Free” (TCF). “Elemental chlorine free” bleaching is the most common method where chlorine dioxide is substituted for elemental chlorine or chlorine gas. Elemental chlorine binds well with carbon-based compounds like lignin but the reaction happens to produce high levels of dioxin. The formation of dioxin using chlorine dioxide is significantly less than elemental chlorine but the ECF process still leaves trace amounts. Though some say the levels of dioxin found in disposable menstrual products is not significant enough to pose health problems, others show concern because the FDA only recommends that companies disclose everything in their products. Therefore, not only do consumers not know if there are dangerous chemicals that are being undisclosed, but information on dioxin levels are also withheld from the public.

The second bleaching method is “Totally Chlorine Free” where no elemental chlorine or chlorine derivative is used. Instead, to bleach things hydrogen peroxide or H2O2 is used. This process is not only more environmentally friendly but is safer. Hydrogen peroxide is a versatile liquid that can used to bleach fibers, remove blood stains, and kill bacteria.

When hydrogen peroxide is exposed to light for long enough, it just breaks down into water (H2O) and Oxygen (O2). That’s why they’re packaged in those dark containers.

However, because this process is more expensive, TCF bleaching is not as common.

To demonstrate how hydrogen peroxide can be used as bleach, I placed jute twine in hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes. Because I didn’t have a catalyst, I used regular baking soda.

Works Cited

“Facts about Dioxins.”Minnesota Department of Health, Oct. 2006, www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/risk/chemhazard/dioxins.html.

Gibbons, John H. “4.”Technologies for Reducing Dioxin in the Manufacture of Bleached Wood Pulp, U.S Government Printing Office, 1989, http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1989/8931/893106.PDF.

How Is Pulp Made? UPM Pulp, www.upmpulp.com/sustainable-pulp/how-is-pulp-made/.