To the manufacturers, marketing teams, and executives behind every sanitary pad and pantyliner brand currently sold on South African shelves:
I need you to sit with something for a moment.
Picture a woman — let’s call her Thandi. She has been trying to fall pregnant for three years. Three years of temperature charts, of blood tests, of injections, of hope and heartbreak cycling month after month. She has changed her diet, cut out alcohol, taken every supplement recommended. She has done everything right. And every single month, she reaches for a sanitary pad — a product she trusts, a product she believes is safe — because that is what you told her.
Now imagine her reading the findings of the University of the Free State’s bombshell study, published in February 2026. A study that found that every single sanitary pad and pantyliner tested — including products labelled “organic”, “plant-based”, and “free from harmful chemicals” — contained hormone-disrupting chemicals known to interfere with fertility, cause endometriosis, and damage the very reproductive system she has been fighting so hard to protect.
How does Thandi feel? How would you feel?
What the Science Actually Found
Researchers from the University of the Free State analysed 16 brands of sanitary pads and 8 types of pantyliners — the very products you find on the shelves of every Pick n Pay, Checkers, Dischem and Clicks across this country. They tested for three groups of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs): phthalates, bisphenols (including BPA), and parabens.
The results were staggering:
◆ Bisphenols were detected in 100% of sanitary pads and 75% of pantyliners — chemicals structurally similar to oestrogen that can bind to oestrogen receptors in the body.
◆ Phthalates were present in 100% of pantyliners and 50% of sanitary pads — chemicals linked to fertility issues in both men and women, premature puberty, endometriosis, and ovulation disorders.
◆ Parabens were found in more than 81% of sanitary pads and 75% of pantyliners — associated with hormonal imbalance and increased cancer risk.
◆ Every product tested contained at least two of these chemicals.
And here is the cruellest part: these products are applied against some of the most absorbent, sensitive tissue on the female body — mucosal tissue that absorbs chemicals more readily than regular skin. Not once a month. Not occasionally. Month after month, for decades.
What These Chemicals Do to Fertility
As the founder of Fertility Solutions, I spend every single day walking alongside women and couples navigating the devastating road of infertility. I know what it costs — emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually. I know the toll it takes on marriages, on self-worth, on the quiet moments when the grief becomes too heavy to carry.
So when I tell you that the chemicals found in your products — the products millions of South African women have been using for their entire reproductive lives — are directly linked to the conditions that rob women of their fertility, I need you to understand that this is not abstract. This is personal.
Bisphenols (including BPA) mimic oestrogen in the body. Because they are structurally similar to our natural hormones, they can bind to oestrogen receptors and throw the entire hormonal system off balance. The effects linked to bisphenol exposure include:
◆ Disruption of the oestrogen balance required for healthy ovulation
◆ Contribution to conditions like PCOS and endometriosis
◆ Impaired egg quality and reduced ovarian reserve
◆ Promotion of oestrogen-sensitive conditions, including certain cancers
Phthalates interfere with hormone signalling across the entire endocrine system. They were found in 100% of pantyliners and 50% of pads tested. Research has linked phthalate exposure to:
◆ Premature puberty in young girls
◆ Ovulation disorders and reduced fertility in women
◆ Reduced sperm quality in male partners
◆ Endometriosis — one of the leading causes of female infertility
Parabens are preservatives used to extend shelf life. They were detected in more than 81% of pads and 75% of pantyliners tested. They too act as endocrine disruptors and have been associated with:
◆ Hormonal imbalance affecting the menstrual cycle and fertility
◆ Interference with the body’s natural oestrogen activity
◆ Increased risk of oestrogen-sensitive cancers with long-term exposure
The researchers also noted that these chemicals are not always intentionally added — they can migrate into products from plastics, adhesives, and manufacturing processes. As Prof Deon Visser, head of the UFS Chemistry Department, explained: “The heat-pressing process can cause these chemicals to move into the top layer that touches your skin.” He added that once inside the body, these chemicals “look very similar to hormones” — causing the body to become confused, blocking normal hormones, and potentially leading to disorders including infertility and endometriosis.
This is not a theoretical risk. This is happening. Right now. To real women. Women who trusted your labels.
The Betrayal of the Label
What makes this so deeply, viscerally painful is not just the presence of these chemicals. It is the lie on the packaging.
“Free from harmful chemicals.” “Organic.” “Plant-based.” “Gentle. Natural. Safe.”
Women going through fertility treatment are among the most health-conscious consumers on the planet. They read every label. They research every ingredient. They switch brands specifically because yours said it was clean. And now we learn that the “organic” pad was just as contaminated as any other product on the shelf?
The UFS researchers confirmed that manufacturers are not legally required to disclose the full chemical composition of menstrual products in South Africa. The South African Bureau of Standards tests for absorbency and microbiology — but there are zero standards governing the chemical content of the products women press against their bodies for days at a time, every single month.
You knew the regulations were silent. And instead of doing more than the minimum, you marketed your way into our trust.
I Am Asking You to Feel This
I want you — the CEO, the product manager, the marketing director — to really sit with this for a moment.
Imagine you are 32 years old. You have wanted a baby for as long as you can remember. For two years you have been through IVF cycles that cost you your savings and nearly your marriage. You have miscarried twice. Your doctor has told you that your hormone levels are irregular and your ovarian reserve is lower than expected for your age. You cannot explain why.
And then you read a headline that says the pads you have used every month since you were 13 years old contain chemicals that mimic hormones, disrupt ovulation, and have been linked to the very condition your doctor cannot fully explain.
How do you feel?
That is not a rhetorical question. I need you to actually feel it. Because that woman is real. She is sitting in my community right now. She is reading this letter. She is asking whether the product she trusted contributed to her pain.
She deserves an answer. And she deserves a great deal more than a press release saying that chemical levels fall within safety guidelines.
What We Are Demanding — Right Now
As Fertility Solutions, as advocates for women’s reproductive health in South Africa, and as women who use these products ourselves, we are calling on every sanitary pad and pantyliner manufacturer operating in this country to:
1. Publish a full and transparent disclosure of every chemical compound present in your products — not just what you intentionally added, but what may have migrated from plastics, adhesives, or manufacturing processes.
2. Immediately cease marketing language such as “free from harmful chemicals”, “organic”, or “natural” unless your product has been independently certified under a recognised international standard such as OEKO-TEX Standard 100.
3. Commission independent, third-party chemical testing of your current product lines and publish the results publicly and accessibly — not buried in technical documents.
4. Invest in reformulation. The technology exists to make safer products. The question has never been whether it was possible — only whether it was profitable enough for you to bother.
5. Support the call for South African regulatory reform — including mandatory chemical disclosure standards for menstrual products and the adoption of EDC-specific safety limits.
Women are not a demographic. We are not a market segment. We are not an afterthought to be managed with “within safe limits” statements when a crisis hits.
To Every Woman Reading This
I know this is frightening. I know it feels like yet another thing to navigate on an already exhausting journey. I am not sharing this to create panic. I am sharing it because you deserve to know the truth and you deserve to have choices.
In the meantime, here is what the researchers and our team at Fertility Solutions recommend:
◆ Look for products certified with the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 label — this is a legitimate, independently verified standard.
◆ Consider reusable alternatives such as menstrual cups or certified reusable cloth pads.
◆ Do not accept “within safety limits” as a sufficient answer. Ask manufacturers directly for their full chemical testing data.
◆ Share this letter. The louder our collective voice, the faster change happens.
I have spent years watching women blame themselves for their infertility. Wondering what they did wrong. Whether their body failed them. That self-blame is one of the cruelest dimensions of this journey — and it is entirely undeserved.
To now discover that a product these women used in absolute good faith — a product positioned as women’s health care — may have been quietly working against their bodies all along… that is not just a product failure. That is a profound and unacceptable breach of trust.
To the manufacturers: your silence, your minimal compliance, and your carefully worded statements will not be enough this time. South African women are watching. We are asking questions. And we will not stop until you give us the honesty, the transparency, and the safer products we have always deserved.
With deep care for every woman walking this road,
Leigh-Ann
Founder, Fertility Solutions South Africa
www.fertilitysolutions.co.za
SOURCES
University of the Free State (2026). “The Presence of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Sanitary Pads: A Study Done in South Africa.” Science of the Total Environment.
Mail & Guardian (20 February 2026). “Hormone-disrupting chemicals found in South African sanitary pads and pantyliners, study finds.”
SABC News (21 February 2026). “UFS study finds 16 sanitary pad brands contain hormone-disrupting chemicals.”
