Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Monday that will ban the sale of tampons and other menstrual products in California that contain certain levels of potentially toxic chemicals.
The law would prohibit by 2025 the manufacture and sale of menstrual products that contain intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS. If such products have PFAS added unintentionally, the law requires that by 2027 manufacturers must keep them below a level to be determined by the Department of Toxic Substances Control.
The law also allows for fines to be imposed against those who violate the prohibition.
These chemicals can help make the material in tampons and pads more absorbent, but advocates argue they can be replaced by safer substances.
Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), who authored the bill, called the legislation a “bright step forward for women’s health.” PFAS have been present in various consumer products, including cosmetics, cleaning products, nonstick cookware, drinking water and artificial turf, for decades.
“This particular use — because it’s so intimate and affects 50% of the population for a very significant part of their lives — had a lot of urgency to it,” Papan said. “These are very dangerous chemicals. Can you believe that women in 2024 have to sit here and fight for this? It blows my mind.”
Exposure to PFAS, which are often called “forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the environment, has been tied to kidney and testicular cancer, increases in cholesterol, changes in liver function and hypertension and preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This isn’t the first time the issue has been raised in California. A similar bill also authored by Papan garnered bipartisan support in the Legislature but was vetoed by Newsom last year. The governor at the time said he “strongly supported” the bill’s intent. In his veto message, he directed the Department of Toxic Substances Control to work with Papan.
“Previously enacted single-product chemical bans, which also lack oversight, are proving challenging to implement, with inconsistent interpretations and confusion among manufacturers about how to comply with the restrictions,” he wrote in his veto message.
California’s law comes amid heightened concerns across the country about the contents of feminine hygiene products.
A consumer study published in 2022 by the watchdog group Mamavation in partnership with Environmental Health News found that 22% of the 23 lab-tested tampon brands contained indications of PFAS. Out of the 46 sanitary pads and panty liners tested, 48% had indications of PFAS, according to the study.
In June, Vermont became the first state to ban such chemicals from tampons and sanitary pads.
Alexandra Scranton, the director of science and research at Women’s Voices for the Earth, said California’s new law is another “nail in the coffin” for PFAS. California has recently banned the use of the forever chemicals in cosmetics, clothing, food packaging, cribs and firefighting foam.
“We think it’s especially inappropriate in menstrual products because these are products used in some of the most sensitive and absorptive parts of the body,” she said.
Still, concerns about other ingredients persist.
In July, a study by researchers at Columbia University, UC Berkeley and Michigan State University, found the presence of 16 potentially harmful metals in tampons sold by more than a dozen brands.
In response, four members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month calling for the agency to address safety concerns over the materials in tampons and their potential health effects.
“Women use about 7,400 tampons over the course of their reproductive years, so the presence of potentially harmful metals and chemicals in these products is incredibly concerning,” the lawmakers wrote.
