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If you've bought a pair of Thinx period underwear in the last six years, you may be entitled to some money.
The menstrual underwear brand has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit for $4 million claiming its products contain short chain per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and Agion anti-microbial treatment. PFAS are chemicals that take a long time to break down in the environment and may be harmful in high concentrations, and the anti-microbial treatment may have adverse health effects.
The lawsuit alleges that Thinx knowingly branded its products as safe and “free of toxic metals and/or nanoparticles.” Thinx denies these allegations, according to the class action settlement website, and maintains that PFAS have not been a part of their products designs.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS — sometimes called “forever chemicals” — are a commonly used class of chemicals that can be found in things like food packaging, household cleaning products, cookware, certain beauty products, and more. Because they are so common, PFAS can also make their way into soil and drinking water, increasing unintentional exposure to them. While the health impacts of PFAS are still largely unknown, the EPA notes that high levels of exposure can lead to negative health effects like decreased fertility, developmental impacts in children, increased risk of certain cancers, and more. That said, most known exposures are relatively low, according to the EPA.
Thinx period underwear has been the subject of similar complaints in numerous lawsuits in the last few years, each alleging the company includes PFAS in their products without proper disclosure. The lawsuits came after Jessian Choy, writing for for Sierra Club’s magazine Sierra, published an article in 2020 claiming that an independent lab test found high levels of PFAS in Thinx underwear, especially around the crotch. Thinx denied the claims at the time, telling Teen Vogue that “Based on [third-party expert] testing, PFAS chemicals were not detected in Thinx products.”
The menstrual underwear brand isn't the only period product that's come under fire for potentially including possibly harmful chemicals. Research has found higher levels of chemicals like phthalates in various menstrual products like pads and tampons. Phthalates are a class of hormone-disrupting chemicals that could have adverse health effects.
The Thinx lawsuit that was just settled was filed in May 2022, and entitles someone who has bought period underwear from the brand between November 12, 2016 and November 28, 2022 to part of the settlement money. Information on the settlement and how to submit a claim form is available here.
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