Ordinarily the idea of a green vagina might be disturbing. In this case it shouldn’t be.

When I first embarked on a more earth-friendly lifestyle, one of the first truly staggering statistics I came across concerned conventional cotton and how bad it is for the environment. According to the Organic Trade Association, traditionally grown cotton uses approximately 25 percent of the world’s insecticides and more than 10 percent of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants), more than any other crop.

After I read this, it dawned on me exactly how much cotton is in my home. My sheets, my clothing, hell, even my tampons are made out of cotton, all of which has been sprayed with chemicals and God-knows-what-else.

Wait a minute, I thought. My tampons have been sprayed with chemicals? And I am putting them in my hoo ha? Gross, right?

According to my research, even tampons that aren’t made of cotton (some are made of synthetics, like rayon, or blends of cotton and rayon) are chlorine-bleached. Dioxin, a toxic carcinogen, is a by-product of all chlorine bleaching methods and is also found throughout the environment in varying levels as a by-product of pesticide spraying and pollution from incinerators.

Dioxin has been found to collect in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans and should, therefore, be a real concern for women. I don’t know about you but I have plenty of fatty tissue for dioxin to camp out in and considering a woman may use as many as 11,000 tampons in her lifetime, she may be subjecting herself to additional dioxin exposure. The idea of voluntarily putting chemicals near the lady-plumbing just seems wrong to me.

I am proud to say that my vagina is now completely eco-friendly. I switched from OB to Natracare tampons, which are made from 100 percent certified organic cotton. Seventh Generation, which may be more readily available, also makes a line of organic feminine hygiene products as does Trader Joe’s. I picked mine up at my local health food store and they cost $3.39 for a box of 10, cheaper than the conventional tampons I used to buy.

Make the switch. Your vagina will thank you.

Tags: eco, green, Natracare, organic cotton, Seventh Generation, tampons, Trader Joe's

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Beauty, Health, personal care, women's health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.