here is what will soon change with your hygienic protection

“A first step forward”. This is what Laury Gaude, director of the Elementary Rules association, considered when announcing the entry into force of a new decreeon April 1: manufacturers and those responsible for placing periodic protection on the market are ordered to”improve transparency on the composition and risks linked to the use of intimate protection products”announced the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), Friday March 8.

“Billions of periodic protection products are sold in France and are used by women every day. Until today, we really didn’t know the impact they can have on women’s health”lamented Laury Gaude, at the microphone of FranceinfoSaturday March 9.

What information will appear on the hygiene protection packages?

Published on December 30, 2023 at Official newspaperthis decree n°2023-1427, “relating to information on certain intimate protection products”thus provides for the obligatory appearance of three types of information on the packaging or on the instructions for use of tampons, sanitary napkins, menstrual cups and panties:

• The list of components and, for each of them, “the details of substances and materials incorporated“
• THE “modalities and precautions for use”
• THE “possible side effects (irritation, intolerance, allergy, micro-trauma) or more serious such as menstrual toxic shock syndrome (TSC)

The decree also provides “making this information available in the event of distance selling or individual distribution (for example via dispensers in toilets, during donations, etc.)”, specified the DGCCRF. If the date of April 1 was retained, a “deadline for stocks already placed on the market” will nevertheless be authorized until December 31, 2024.

“Between 6,000 and 13,000 disposable intimate protection products per woman”

According to the administrative body, a woman “uses between 6,000 and 13,000 disposable intimate protection products during his life”, indicated the DGCCRF. “Information on the composition and good practices for use” are essential for “preventing the risk of toxic shock syndrome”, she also insisted. This syndrome, which affects around hundreds of people per year, according to INSERM, “is mainly caused by the use of internal periodic protection, namely tampons and menstrual cups”.

STC is a rare but serious infection caused by the secretion of a toxin (TSST-1) by a particular strain of staphylococcus. The latter is naturally present in 30 to 40%* of men, women and children, in the nose, back of the throat, rectum, vagina, but also on the skin.

What are the symptoms of toxic shock?

Although this bacteria is not dangerous in the majority of cases, some people have not developed immune defenses against the toxin it produces. Women can thus develop the infectious disease by using tampons, especially super absorbent ones, and menstrual cups. This is called the monthly STC.

It can cause symptoms such as high fever, flu-like illness, rash, and, “in rare cases”of serious complications “which can lead to amputation or even death.can we read on the site of the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES).

*Source: Folia Pharmacotherapeutica, CBIP, March 2007

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Rights of women and children, violence, feminism, gender, discrimination, parenthood, education, psychology, health, couple, sexuality, social networks…. Joséphine loves deciphering all the social issues that drive our world…