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A woman is suing a tampon company after losing her leg. The amputation was the result of Toxic Shock Syndrome, aka. TSS, a complicated bacterial infection. It’s not a female-only condition, but there’s been a link between TSS and tampon usage that has gone on for decades. A tampon alone cannot cause TSS; it occurs when someone already has Staphylococcus aureus present in her body, which is common in approximately 20% of the general population.

There was a series of TSS-related deaths in the 1980s, but most women haven’t heard much about TSS in recent years save for the fine print they might notice on their box of tampons. However, TSS is still a very serious danger.

Though tampons and tampon-like solutions have been used for centuries, in the past 50 year their composition has changed from cotton and other natural ingredients to synthetics like plastic and rayon. These synthetic materials are commonly used by big manufacturers like Playtex, Tampax, and Kotex. The emergence of extra-absorbent tampons creates the perfect situation for TSS to occur.

To avoid FDA legalities, companies put a warning on the outside of tampon boxes. But hearing about stories like that of the woman who lost her leg, do you think that the FDA warning is enough?

Do you think tampon companies should be doing more? And do you think that woman take the warning seriously enough?

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