A Voice for Choice Advocacy is excited to announce that Assembly member Cristina Garcia will be authoring our bill to label Menstrual Product ingredients: AB-1989 Menstrual Products Right to Know Act of 2020.  Women are exposed to a many product toxins in their menstrual products, according to the advocacy group Women’s Voices for the Earth, potentially leading to cancer, reproductive damage, allergic reactions and hormone disruption.  This bill would require that all product ingredients, from tampons to sponges to menstrual underwear, become publicly available to consumers.  In Garcia’s words, “If we are using these products, we should know what we’re putting in our bodies.  If it’s a tampon, pad, a cup, Thinx underwear, no matter the product, I want you to have the best xxxxxxrmation out there.”

This is a great bill for you to use to start conversations and continue to build relationships with your legislators on all issues of xxxxxxrmed choice and transparency.

History of getting AB 1989 authored

At the end of each year AVFCA puts together a list of bills we would like to see authored in the following legislative session.  Many of these bill suggestions are to have conversations with legislators and their staff about various issues related to xxxxxxrmed choice and transparency of what goes into our bodies.  They also serve the purpose of showing the legislators and their staff that AVFCA is a professional organization, respected in the Capital for the advocacy work we do, and we are going to be present in the Capital and hold our legislators accountable.  #NotGoingAway.  We can’t pay our lobbyists without your ongoing support, so if you appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a recurring donation today.

After NY state passed a similar Menstrual Product Labeling bill into law last year (https://www.vogue.com/article/new-york-menstrual-period-product-labeling-act), AVFCA’s lobbyists approached a number of Assembly Members with the bill idea and after much discussion Asm Cristina Garcia decided to author it.  We will be working closely with her office to gain support of other legislators, as well as working with other organizations to garner support for the bill, to move the bill through the legislature this year.  Having a bill in play this year will also allow us to continue our education of legislators on other issue that are important to us, including Glyphosate and Vaccines.

Background (https://www.womensvoices.org/menstrual-care-products/chem-fatale-report/)

Feminine care. Feminine hygiene. Personal cleansing products. Menstrual products. Intimate care. No matter what you call them, these consumer products are manufactured for and marketed exclusively to women. The purpose of feminine care products is to clean, moisturize, absorb discharge or otherwise treat the sensitive skin and tissues of the vaginal area. Women are told they are necessary for personal hygiene, a “fresher feeling,” or “greater confidence,” and the companies marketing these products imply that this improved cleanliness will promote good health and increase sex appeal.

Feminine care products are widely used by women in the United States and constitute a $3 billion dollar industry. The most popular feminine care products are tampons and menstrual pads, used by 70-85 percent of women. Douches, sprays, washes, and wipes are used by a smaller percentage of women (approximately 10-40 percent), with rates considerably higher among African-American, Latina and low-income women.

Problem

Feminine care products include personal care products such as douches, sprays, washes, and wipes and menstrual products, such as tampons, pads and menstrual cups.  These products intended for use on or in an incredibly absorbent part of a woman’s body are marketed and sold with little to no data assuring the ingredients they contain are safe.  Ingredients are determined “safe,” operating under the premise that they are used on ordinary skin just like other cosmetic products. That means chemicals of concern such as carcinogens, reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors, and allergens are being used on, or even in, the extremely permeable mucus membranes of the vaginal area. See end of this document or https://womensvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Chemicals-of-Concern-in-Feminine-Care-Products.pdf for more details.

While personal care products, such as douches, sprays, washes, and wipes require a list of ingredients on the packages, menstrual products, such as tampons, pads and menstrual cups, are considered ‘medical devices’ by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and therefore are not subject to ingredient labeling.  As a result, ingredients used in these products are rarely disclosed publicly.

Solution

AB-1989 Menstrual Products Right to Know Act of 2020.

If you are part of an organization or company that would like to support AB-1989, please email [email protected] and we will add you to our organization support list.

Thank you for your support.

C

P.S. If you found this xxxxxxrmation helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today.

Christina Hildebrand

President/Founder

A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.

www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org

408 835 9353

WWW.AVOICEFORCHOICEADVOCACY.ORG

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