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If you like organic products, they work for you, and you can afford them, then go for it. Just know you're not poisoning yourself with the regular sort.

OPINION: One of the stranger interactions I've had lately was explaining to someone why I didn't want to write about thetampons they werepromoting.

I had tried them, I'd said, and I didn't like them. I should have left it at that.

Instead, I became embroiled in an unexpectedly intimate email exchange where I tolda well-meaning acquaintance that the thing about this particular brand of tampon, fashioned from organic cotton, was (and I quote myself here): "They don't hold shape well so you sort of have to smoosh them up."

I've long been wary of the organic tampon.

My friend, a nurse, once found herself at the mercy of an after-hours GP a dead ringer, as it happened, for Robin Williams' character in Mrs Doubtfire after borrowing such a device from her flatmate, only to find that when the time came to remove it,just the string emerged.

Despite her medical prowess, my friend was unable to retrieve the rogue tampon on her own, cue the Mrs Doubtfire encounter. She recalls the examination room's decor posters featuring topless men on motorcycles and the expression of disgust on the doctor's face (so unprofessional!) as she fished that sucker out. My friend hasn't been tempted toward an organic tampon since.

The thing is though, organic tampons are GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT and GOOD FOR YOUR BODY. This is what we are told by people trying to make money off our guilt (about ruining the planet) and fears (about all the stuff that could prevent us living our best lives), so, it must be true.

It doesn't matter that wearing one of these things feels like being stabbed in the pancreas whenever you sit down suddenly.

Organic tampons allow our plastic-bag-shunning metal-straw-sucking virtue signalling autopilots to extend all the way into our probably-not-organic-cotton undies.

They fulfil an intangible purpose, as well as a practical one.

I've always been a sceptical sort a brief but severe phase of evangelical Christianity notwithstanding but my bulls metre is currently at an all-time high, following a close reading ofThe Vagina Bible by Canadian ob/gyn Dr Jen Gunter.

Theinternet arch nemesis of sexy-charlatan-in-chief Gywneth Paltrow, Gunter has made something of a sport calling out quackery, countering fear mongering with fact wielding, offering peace of mind and probably saving women across the world thousands of dollars in the process. The book is essentially a user guide for anyone who has a vagina(including trans women and trans men), or came out of one, or finds themselves in proximity to one from time to time.

It's hundreds of pages of everything that's missing from the school health curriculum, and plenty that's missing from the medschool curriculum, too. I have been insufferable about it for weeks. When my flatmate said:"I'm 37, what more could there possibly be to learn?" my eyes lit up.

Having specialisedin women's health for 25years, Gunter has a particular interest in menstrual products. She has a whole section on "Menstrual Products and Mythology", and a chapter devoted to the time-worn question: "Are there toxins in tampons and pads?"

The paraphrasedanswer is: yes, but because of environmental pollution, not manufacturing processes, and even then, the concentrations are thousands of times less than those you'll find in food.

And, there's no difference between the levels of toxins found in "health food store"tampons versus "conventional"cotton/rayon blends, although, Gunter adds: "In one study the tampon that had the highest levels of dioxins was from an 'organic' company."

Gunter is not a fan of "where's the harm?"logic, particularly when it comes to companies capitalising on women's insecurities.Putting a sea sponge in there is an actively bad idea, for example they'rebreeding grounds for potentially harmful bacteria and impossible to effectively clean. As for knitted or crochetedtampons (Etsy has a lot to answer for...) she says: "Give them a pass."

But Gunterwould no doubt say that if you like the organic tampons on supermarket shelves, they work for you, and you can afford them, then go for it. Just know you're not poisoning yourself withthe regular sort.Me? I'll keep my virtue signalling confined to not owning a car and rarely eating meat, and my Carefree Silk-Ease firmly where they belong.

Read this article:

Why I'll never buy organic tampons - Stuff.co.nz