Playtex maker ticks lower after UC Berkeley study on tampon toxins

Shares of Edgewell Personal Care, which owns feminine care product makers Playtex, Carefree and Stayfree, are moving lower after a UC Berkeley researcher found that tampons from several brands can contain toxic metals like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. The study was reported by Berkeley Public Health on July 3. “Despite this large potential for public health concern, very little research has been done to measure chemicals in tampons. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to measure metals in tampons. Concerningly, we found concentrations of all metals we tested for, including toxic metals like arsenic and lead,” said lead author Jenni Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management. Procter & Gamble (PG) and Unilever (UL) are other publicly traded makers of tampons. Shares of Edgewell are down 1% to $39.34 in afternoon trading.