It is a fight that Mélanie Doerflinger has been leading for two years: to register the list of products used in the composition of tampons and sanitary napkins. Thanks to its petitions, it obtains from the famous brand Tampax that it displays the elements used in the manufacture of its stamps.
The student decides to fight for this cause when she learns that model Lauren Wasser has lost her right leg as a result of toxic shock syndrome caused by using a tampon. Mélanie Doerflinger tries to find out what these periodic protections contain, in vain. Then began its actions to “allow consumers to buy these intimate products with full knowledge of the facts, by making information easily accessible”. She therefore launched a petition on the Change.org site for the attention of the Tampax brand, a large manufacturer in the sector. It has collected nearly 259,000 signatures to date.
Alert the public authorities
In April 2016, Tampax included certain composition information on the instructions, accompanied by more detailed elements in an institutional video on the brand’s website. But for the student and many women alerted by the petition, this is not enough: the composition must appear directly on the product in order to guarantee information and the free choice of women. The mobilization seems to be bearing fruit. Tampax, interviewed by 20 Minutes, indicates that “information on the packs will be available by spring 2017”.
Mélanie Doerflinger is now waiting to see if the brand keeps its promises. At the beginning of January, she launched an open letter addressed to Marisol Touraine, Minister of Health and Social Affairs; Laurence Rossignol, Minister of Families, Children and Women’s Rights; Martine Pinville, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy and Finance, in charge of trade, Crafts, Consumption and Social and Solidarity Economy; as well as to deputies and senators. The student wants the state to oblige manufacturers to include an exhaustive list of components and possible polluting products on the packaging, in the same way as cosmetic products.
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