Tampon safety scare goes viral on TikTok

Here’s one TikTok trend you can’t dance to.

Videos of young women warning about the unconfirmed health risks of titanium dioxide in tampons have been going viral on the trendy social media platform in recent weeks, but experts say the information is misleading.

In a typical post, a content creator rages to her followers after noticing the chemical, which can also be found in everything from sunscreen to Skittles, on the ingredient list of the personal care essential.

User Rachel Morgan explained, in her own, now-viral post, that she watched a TikTok video in which a woman claimed she experienced health issues and is being screened for cancer due to poisonous chemicals in her tampons.

“Now she’s had two weeks worth of excessive bleeding with extreme pain, ovarian cysts and irreversible uterine damage. She’s getting checked for f–king cancer,” Morgan said in her own video. “You know why? Because one of the ingredients on the back of her container is titanium dioxide, which, if you don’t know, causes cancer.”

Even though her own tampon supply didn’t list the chemical ingredient, Morgan promised they were going in the garbage, encouraging her followers to take their own precautions.

“And if you’ve had any adverse symptoms like hers, call a f–king lawyer,” she insisted.

Morgan’s video has amassed 7.9 million views on the social site, and has inspired hundreds more similar videos, spooking followers and leading to a growing fear of tampons and their supposed toxic ingredients. Not so fast, say the experts, some of whom are now jumping onto TikTok themselves, in order to set the record straight.

Dr. Karen Tang, a nationally recognized leader in women’s health, joined the conversation with clarification videos on TikTok and YouTube, talking more about titanium dioxide, or TiO2, and why it’s found in tampons.

Tang told her viewers that she consulted with a PhD toxicologist who used to run clinical trials for the FDA on safety for women’s health care products. She explained that titanium dioxide is far more common than people might think. It can be found in beauty products like makeup, foods like cottage cheese and kid favorites such as chewing gum.

The FDA categorizes titanium dioxide as “Generally Recognized as Safe,” but the scare-causing chemical has recently been banned as a food additive in the EU on the basis that experts could not exclude toxicity concerns, citing a lack of research.

In her TikTok video, Tang explains that there’s almost no titanium dioxide in a tampon, and that it’s mostly in the thread that holds the string to the tampon; there is virtually no titanium dioxide touching or entering the body.

Javon Ford, a cosmetic chemist, posted his own TikTok video to clarify the alleged health risks of titanium dioxide in tampons. While citing a warning from the New Jersey state health authorities warning that exposure to titanium dioxide can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, cause cancer in animals and may have the potential to cause reproductive damage, the information being put out by influencers is misleading.

Ford explains that any source linking titanium dioxide to reproductive issues is using nanoparticle titanium dioxide instead of “regular” titanium dioxide, which is very different. Still, there are no studies linking either form of the chemical to ovarian cysts, and any free-flowing powder can irritate the lungs, eyes and nose.

“Safety assessment is a spectrum. Even too much water in the lungs will drown you,” the chemist noted.

Companies selling tampons, pads, menstrual cups or period underwear in New York State are now required to disclose all intentionally added ingredients on product labels after the state passed the nation’s first menstrual product disclosure law in 2021, which helped to spark the recent frenzy.

Gynecologist and women’s health expert Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz confirmed to The Post that titanium dioxide has not been found to have adverse effects on women’s reproductive health but clarified that this is because it hasn’t been specifically studied.

“I don’t want to alarm, but I think people should be conscious of what they’re putting in and on their bodies,” Dr. Gilberg-Lenz said. “It’s kind of offensive to imply that we shouldn’t be asking questions about what we’re putting in our vagina.”

She said that women do not need to immediately throw out all products containing titanium dioxide, but is pushing for the chemical to be specifically studied for potential harm to the human body when used in menstruation aids.

Women who are worried about titanium dioxide in tampons should check the ingredient list on their tampon box and can turn to other products, including period underwear and menstrual cups, she said.