Organic Period Brand Speaks Out Against Gender Bias And Donates to Girls Helping Girls Period. Offering Low Income Women Access to Menstrual Hygiene Products
Press Release – New York, NY — Sustain Natural, the pioneering brand of all-natural vagina-friendly wellness products launches a new line of organic period products via an innovative online subscription service where women can customize their own period kits, conveniently delivered bi-monthly.
To celebrate this important launch, Sustain is joining forces with Period Equity to rally behind the nationwide movement to remove taxes on tampons and pads which have been deemed ‘nonessential’ items. While menstruation is a normal and healthy part of women’s lives, in 37 states across the US, tampons, sanitary napkins and other menstrual hygiene products are subject to sales tax, upwards of 66 cents per box, while shockingly, products such as Rogaine, men’s razors and even Fruit Roll-Ups are frequently sales-tax free.
“It’s about equity and access – there’s no other tax that’s this gender biased,” says Meika Hollender, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sustain Natural. “Tampons are critical to women’s overall health and wellness. To tax these items and not acknowledge or exempt them as essential products is another example of gender inequality playing out in policy. Overseeing women’s needs, and in turn putting women’s health at risk, is unacceptable.”
Founded in 2014 by Jeffrey Hollender, the co-founder and former CEO of Seventh Generation, and his daughter Meika, Sustain’s expansion into organic menstrual hygiene is a natural next-step for their brand, a product category Jeffrey and his wife Sheila Hollender tackled 15 years ago when they launched organic tampons and pads at Seventh Generation. This debut adds to the brand’s existing line of non-toxic sexual wellness products – because all women deserve to know what they’re putting inside their vaginas. Its new 100% organic cotton tampons, pads and liners are rayon- and fragrance-free, non-chlorine bleached, and grown without pesticides – and can be ordered at sustainnatural.com.
With Sustain’s innovative online subscription model, women will now be able to customize their own period kits based on their personal menstrual needs. Many women use a combination of products during their menstrual cycle — different types of pads, tampons or both — and so Sustain has built an online Mad Lib style ‘Period Flow-Chart’, where women can indicate which combination of products they use and for how many days, to configure personalized boxes delivered every other month.
For the first 30 days of the launch, Sustain will match the dollars it collects in sales tax on these products with a donation to the organization Girls Helping Girls. Period. (GHGP) which helps low-income women in this country access menstrual hygiene products. GHGP is dedicated to educating people about this need, particularly among girls and women who may miss school and work because they can’t afford basic necessities like tampons and pads, compromising their health, productivity and dignity.
Sustain is committed to providing women with access to healthier, non-toxic products and ingredient transparency. The majority of traditional menstrual products are made of conventional (non-organic) cotton, rayon, wood pulp or blends of all three, and can contain harmful ingredients like chlorine dioxide, dyes and synthetic fragrances. Many of the pesticides and herbicides used on cotton crops can leave a chemical residue in non-organic period products. Chlorine, used to bleach these products, creates a dangerous chemical called dioxin which is released into the environment and/or left in the product as a contaminant. Dioxins, a known carcinogen, are among the most dangerous substances on earth, and have been linked to a host of health issues including reproductive and developmental problems, heart disease, and even organ and genetic damage.
The FDA does not require menstrual hygiene product manufacturers to disclose ingredients or conduct testing to determine their products’ long-term effects on women’s bodies. Surprisingly, the FDA believes the products have a dioxin level “so small that any risk of adverse health effects is considered negligible.” This directly contradicts statements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has declared that there is no ‘acceptable’ level of exposure to dioxin given its persistence in the environment and in people. The real dangers of dioxin exposure lie in repeated contact. The average woman will use five tampons a day, for about a week every month, for some 40 years – so the lifetime exposure may be putting women at risk
“With Sustain, we hope to spark a movement towards full ingredient transparency industry-wide and to encourage an open dialogue about these crucial health issues,” says Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sustain Natural. “We strive to be a symbol for rising global standards of what is expected of business. We want to change the rules, not just be an exception to them.”
Sustain Natural’s Period Products:
- Organic Cotton Tampons – made with 100% organic cotton with a compact bio-plastic, plant-based and biodegradable applicator (most plastic applicators are not biodegradable and create massive amounts of waste). The absorbent core and protective outer layer is made with organic cotton fibers that are ideal for sensitive skin (like the inside of your vagina). Available in sizes ‘super’ or ‘regular’.
- Cotton Ultra Thin Pads with Wings – made with 100% cotton with protective wings for a secure fit. Hypoallergenic and breathable, the pads are available in ‘day’ and ‘night’ absorbencies.
- Cotton Ultra Thin Liners – made with 100% cotton, the liners are hypoallergenic and breathable, and have a full liner adhesive to guarantee no loose edges.
Sustain Natural Personalized Online Subscription Service:
