What an average sanitary napkin user may not realise is that the pads contain up to 90% plastic, and hence they will take at least 800 years to biodegrade.

“When not disposed of properly, they end up in landfills, on beaches, or polluting our oceans for decades, and even affecting our health,” said medical doctor and Miss Earth Malaysia 2021 Dr Nisha Thayananthan.

Nisha is on a mission to persuade more girls and women, especially among the underprivileged community, to practise good self-hygiene during menstruation using organic cotton biodegradable sanitary pads instead.

“Many of us are not aware that even the main absorbing component of conventional sanitary pads is made from plastic, and plastic takes hundreds of years to biodegrade. This means your great-great-grandchildren will be able to see all the plastic we used still remaining on mother earth.

“On the other hand, biodegradable pads have the potential to completely biodegrade in 216 hours,” she told Bernama after introducing a biodegradable organic sanitary pad known as Ecopad.

The social worker and part-time model also intends to educate the public on other serious health risks posed by conventional sanitary pads that use absorptive agents like dioxin and super-absorbent polymers.

“This organic sanitary pad (Ecopad) is plastic, dioxin, herbicide, chlorine, perfume and preservative-free, thus reducing health risks,” said the Seremban-born doctor, who is based at Putrajaya Hospital.

She cited several ongoing studies that have reported that the dioxin present in sanitary pads can accumulate in the body and cause cervical cancer or ovarian cancer in the long run.

“During her lifetime, a woman might use 6,000 sanitary napkins, and accumulation of dioxin in the body can cause serious health risks,” she said.

The Universiti Malaysia Sarawak medical graduate said she will spearhead an initiative to donate biodegradable sanitary pads to the underprivileged and the indigenous community for them to practise good self-hygiene through the “purchase one, donate one” campaign.

“During my community posting at a longhouse in Sibu for a week, it was devastating to see many of the women from the community still using cloth for menstrual protection,” she said.

She said part of the proceeds from the sale of Ecopad would be channelled to the underprivileged.

For a start, she has come up with 150,000 pieces of sanitary napkins and 100,000 pantyliners – with the packaging of her products also containing information on self-breast examination steps and cervical cancer awareness to help in the detection of these critical illnesses at an early stage.

For more information, visit the “Ecopad by Dr Nisha” page on Facebook and Instagram, and www.ecopadbydrnisha.com.