Closed petition Class Feminine Hygiene Products as Medical Devices.

Closed on 8 January 2021

The UK is no longer required to follow EU Directives or ECHA Guidelines. Now we've left the EU, I'd like the government to recategorise feminine hygiene products as medical devices to enforce stricter safety regulations, and create a UK accrediting body to ensure the integrity of hygiene products.

My Forensic Science BSc research project chemically profiled pantyliners (a female hygiene product) and identified traces of Nicotine in half of the samples, and identified a carcinogen (2,2'-Bioxirane) in one brand. I discovered that UK legislation is vague and that there are no compulsory Codes of Practice outlining the safety of products or an accrediting body in the UK. Incontinence pads are medical devices that undergo clinical evaluations and audits, yet feminine hygiene products do not.