Many of us have seen the now viral tik tok video about titanium dioxide in this is L tampons where the user tells of her harrowing gyro trip and her list of ailments caused by her tampon brand of choice, This is L. Could all these ailments be caused by this single ingredient? Is this true? We did some digging to figure it out.

What is titanium dioxide?

It’s a natural occurring mineral that has been shown in some studies done with lab rats (where it was inhaled) to increased the risk of cancer significantly- but is it actually bad for you when used for cosmetic reasons? If you start to look at many items in your home you realize titanium dioxide is in so many things Most makeup contains it, sunscreen, toothpaste, and even food! Here’s the thing- we don’t know whether it’s toxic when used in these forms or not. It’s an additive and we hate unnecessary additives at Rif which is why we don’t use it. In the studies we found, there is little proof it can cause all the ailments said to have been happening to the woman in the video but that does not mean the ingredient is in the green.

The European Union banned titanium dioxide in food starting in 2023 because they have not found any significant studies to say that it was NOT harmful. The US keeps titanium dioxide in food because they have no evidence to say that it IS harmful. The reason we don’t use titanium dioxide is because there simply isn’t enough data to say whether it’s safe or not. There’s so many more ways that you can whiten products with sodium based cleansers, and hydrogen peroxide- both have been proven to be safe with decades of data. But why do we even need to whiten product anyway? When working with natural fibers we want our products to be uniform which is why we clean them. Plus white is now the standard in menstrual care. If any of these safe cleansers would ever prove to be unsafe we would discontinue use immediately because health is much more important than us than the color of our pads.

When it comes to ingredients less always going to be more which is why our transparent ingredient list is short and 100% plant based.

What do you feel about unknown chemicals in period care? Will you continue to use these products and eat food with titanium dioxide or do you want to wait for more data? Although the viral video caused a lot of controversy we do believe that it may have been an over dramatization and that titanium dioxide in tampons, although unnecessary and possibly harmful could not have been the sole cause of all of that reproductive issues the user was having. As always we encourage you to do the digging yourself and always look for ingredient origins when shopping!

And always - when you shop at Rif we do the digging for you! Shop non toxic period products here