Umy works to bring menstrual equity conversations into her community to help end period stigma!
Umyeena Bashir is WVE's California Intimate Care Organizing Fellow at WVE and a graduate student at the University of San Francisco studying Organic Chemistry. Umy is passionate about researching period health and educating others on these issues.
New Bill Will Help Close Significant Gaps in Menstrual & Intimate Care Product Safety
Because of lack of government oversight, companies can even get away with not disclosing dangerous chemicals contained in these products. In fact, there is no federal law that requires manufacturers of menstrual care products to disclose any of the ingredients used in these products.
TAKE ACTION for Safer Menstrual and Intimate Care Products!
Recently, the Robin Danielson Menstrual Product and Intimate Care Product Safety Act of 2022 (HR 8724) was introduced in Congress. If passed, the bill requires a research program focused on studying the health risks of fragrance ingredients, pesticides, phthalates, titanium dioxide, and other ingredients used in these products.
We Now Have More Information about Ingredients Used in Period Products Than Ever Before!
Because of new disclosure requirements coming out of New York State, our research has found the every period product user is getting way more information about these products than ever before. Some period products are a lot more complicated than we ever knew.
Sixty-Two Menstrual Equity Laws Passed in the United States
The laws include eliminating the menstrual tax, making menstrual products more accessible by requiring them in schools, prisons, correctional facilities and shelters; and addressing the safety of these products by requiring ingredient disclosure.
Prisons, Periods, and the Patriarchy
Systemic inequities in correctional facilities, like the inability to get period products, are critical in both addressing a healthy and safe quality of life and reproducing the dangerous hierarchies of power outside of prison walls.
Give Reusable Menstrual Products a Chance
Upon approaching some of my friends with the idea of buying reusable products, I started wondering why no one at my school talked about reusable products. I sent out a survey to my school to see who would want to use reusable products and if not, why wouldn’t they use those products?
Schools and Periods: Class is in Session
The hygiene products at public schools are either poorly made or there are none available at all. If you suffer from period cramps, the nurses’ best solution might be to just give you an ice pack and hope you feel better. That is the unfortunate reality we have in our schools today.
How Knowing Your Period, Betters Your Period
To better address period poverty and menstrual hygiene management within the United States, there needs to be more emphasis on menstrual and sexual education to help menstruators prioritize their period and take care of their reproductive health.
Victories and Resolutions for a Less Toxic World!
To keep these victories coming, we resolve to ensure you have the support, tools, training, resources, and actions that you need to create health and safety in your homes, bodies, workplaces, and communities. Ready to join us in building a powerful 2022?
