KUALA LUMPUR: Personal hygiene for women during menstruation is important, but the disposal of non-organic menstrual pads or sanitary napkins used for menses has a massive long term impact on the environment.

What an average sanitary napkin user may not realise is that the pads contain up to 90 per cent plastic, and hence it 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.

Hence, Dr Nisha is on a mission to persuade more girls and women, especially among the underprivileged community, to practice 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 the conventional sanitary pads is made up of 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 contrary, biodegradable pads have the potential to completely biodegrade in 216 hours as opposed to normal conventional pads, which takes 800 to 1000 years to completely degrade," she said.

Dr Nisha spoke to Bernama in an exclusive interview recently after introducing a biodegradable organic sanitary pad known as 'Ecopad'.

The social worker and part-time model also intend 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 is plastic, dioxin, herbicide, chlorine, perfume, and preservative-free, thus reducing health risks," said the Seremban-born doctor, who is currently based at Putrajaya Hospital.

She cited several ongoing studies that have reported that the dioxin present in sanitary pads can get accumulated in the body and can 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 in order for them to practice good self-hygiene through the "purchase one, donate one" campaign.

"During my community posting at the long house (rumah panjang) in Sibu (Sarawak) for a week, it was devastating to see many of the women from the community still using cloth for menstrual protection," she said, adding that part of the proceeds from the sale of the Ecopad will 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 product 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.

The Ecopad was launched by PEKA (Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia) president Puan Sri Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil in an event, recently.

Shariffa Sabrina said the Ecopad is a fantastic initiative to safeguard the environment from the plastic waste menace.

"It is high time each and every one of us use eco-friendly products to reduce pollution and contamination besides creating a safer environment for our future generations," she added.

For more information and updates, visit 'Ecopad by Dr Nisha' page on Facebook and Instagram, and www.ecopadbydrnisha.com.

-- BERNAMA