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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Lifestyle
Zahra Mulroy

Doctor urges women to not put £30 'reusable' sea sponges in their vaginas instead of tampons

We can't quite believe we're saying this, but the list of "inadvisable foreign objects women are inserting into their vaginas" has just got longer.

Hot on the heels of health warnings about putting garlic in your nether regions comes more medical advice of a similar nature.

This time its aimed at women who might be tempted to use a sea sponge instead of a tampon .

Dr Jen Gunter - who has campaigned tirelessly to prevent women from doing daft things like this - issued the warning after someone tweeted a link to Holy Sponges "Ritual Menstruation Kit" that's being sold for £30.

(OTHERWILD.COM)

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She responded: "Anyone who tells you to put a sea sponge in your vagina wants you to grow more bacteria that causes toxic shock syndrome.

"This is horrific and illegal in the US to promote sponges for periods."

There are two things to consider, regarding sponges as a sort of make-shift sanitary product.

The first is they're a living organism.

Dr Jen Gunter (Twitter)

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The second is, as Dr Gunter points out, sponges are one of the ingredients used in the Rely tampon, which back in the 1980s were linked to toxic shock syndrome.

Many of Dr Gunter's followers explained that sponges are favoured instead of tampons in the porn industr.  No one managed to convince her this was a good idea.

Otherwild are the brand behind the kits, and claim that sea sponges "offer bleedin' folks a gentle, nurturing and intuitive alternative to bleached cotton tampons".

They go on to explain how the sponges are a better choice for the environment because they're reusable.

Stick to tampons, ladies (Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

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"Our bodies are made up of water and sponges once lived in the ocean waters, why wouldn't you use these spongey allies on your moon cycle?!"

Despite Janeen Singer, owner of Holy Sponges, waxing lyrical about how using sponges changed her life, Dr Gunter remained steadfast with her advice.

"You have demonstrated an inability to understand some pretty basic scientific data. What we know about sea sponges for menstrual use tells us they are not safe."

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