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 With a lifespan of nearly 150 years, the applicators join plastic
bags, forks, cups, balloons and straws as single-use plastics that
Mexico City has banned as it pushes forward with a greener agenda.
Women's groups, however, said the city's ban on the applicators is
an attack on human rights and creates a phenomenon of "menstrual
poverty" because alternative products, like organic tampons or
silicone menstrual cups, are more expensive and often hard to find.
"A measure that might sound very progressive and well-intentioned
with an environmental commitment is neglecting the needs of women,"
menstrual activist Sally Santiago told Reuters.
Mexico's 126 million people produce 6,000 tonnes of plastic waste a
year, the government said. The city's plastics ban has also prompted
controversy from industries that produce now-prohibited items.
Producers argued that products should be regulated, but not banned.
Mexico City Environment Minister Marina Robles acknowledged the
backlash to the ban on plastic tampons applicators, saying dialogue
with women about the new law should stay open.
However, she said there are alternatives available, including
tampons with cardboard applicators, menstrual cups and organic
tampons.
"We made a comparison and even an analysis of the groups of women
who use tampons and we believe that it can be perfectly covered with
this other type of material," Robles said in an interview.
Plastic applicator tampons were still on the shelves of some Mexico
City stores, Reuters found, while they had disappeared from others.
A small supply of cardboard applicator tampons was available in one
case, sold alongside those with plastic.
Robles said about 7% of merchants were still "lagging behind" but
that officials believed compliance would increase.
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 A box of organic tampons sold
on the popular e-commerce site Mercado Libre had
an average price equivalent to 51 to 100 pesos
per tampon ($2.54 to $4.99), according to Anahi
Rodriguez, spokeswomen for menstrual rights
organization Menstruacion Digna Mexico.
At that price, alternative products could be out
of reach for many women in Mexico, where more
than 40% of the population lives in poverty,
according to government data.
"This could be detrimental for people with lower incomes, which is
worrying because school and work absenteeism could increase,"
Rodriguez said.
Companies should shoulder some of the responsibility to make tampons
with cardboard applicators or no applicators more readily available
in Mexico, Robles said.
She said city officials were in talks with producers for nearly two
years about making more non-plastic alternatives available before
the ban started.
"It seems to us that it is part of the commitments that
entrepreneurs should assume," Robles said.
Even if alternative products are more readily available, the
government is still removing an option from women, activists said.
"Although there are alternatives, if women's structural conditions
are not optimal, we are facing a scenario of false freedom of
choice," Santiago said.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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