Tampons have been around since the 1930s, and women have largely taken their safety for granted. But over the past three decades there has been a staggering increase in illnesses that were once thought of as rare, including endometriosis, fibroids (growths in the uterus), pelvic inflammatory disease, PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), and cancer,
causing some to take another look at those ubiquitous products.
First off it is a logical fallacy to assume that correlation equals causation. That is to say just because two things occur at the same time/related scenario does not mean that a=b. For example if I walked into my kitchen and my banana's that I had washed off in the sink last night with soap and water were suddenly rotten, that the soap and water had caused the rot. This seems rational, but cleaning dirt off food does NOT cause it to go bad.
That said, to assume that sense women started to use tampons, there is an increase in endometrosis, pcos, and cancer seems logical, but it really isn't. Is this person taking into consideration that sense the 1930's women live longer and can receive treatment for these disease? Also even just 30-40 years ago i can promise you fewer women were being diagnosed with these disease because they were either unknown or very little was known about them.
I'm also going to now tell you something I tell my students on a regular basis. When considering evidence from written sources you have to consider the source, and weigh if they are bias or credible. When writing an academic paper for example, you do NOT want to cite wikipedia why? because I can make an account, log in to wikipedia and update it with what ever nonsense i cook up, and the moderators might or might NOT catch the errors. I am not an expert at physics for example, but I could make up a theory about black holes, publish it on blogs, wordpress, and wikipeida and pass it off as knowledge.
Now considering that I want you to examine these pages your mother sent you. These people are citing information but not linking you to where the information was obtained so that you can verify that information is correct and the context of in which the statements were made. for example the blog cites: "Viscous rayon can still amplify toxins to some extent, and the lowest risk [for TSS] would be had by using all cotton," says Dr. Philip Tierno of the New York University Medical Center. but provides no link to where this information is posted, no reference material for where this quote was pulled from, and we don't have a place where we can find out how much this risk is upped. It could be .05% it could be 95% we don't know.
That said, i don't KNOW if this information is solid or not. I do know both of these pages are promoting natural products which makes there claims suspect and you should do more investigation from sources with verified credentials to make sure that someone just isn't selling you something.
I have some friends who swear that there cramps are better and they feel healthier when they don't use tampons or natural products like sea sponges. I can promise you any “organic” alternative to tampons like sea sponges are not as well investigated as tampons because they aren't funded by multimilllion dollar corporations who don't want there pants sued off of them for putting out a dangerous product. Also I always questions the validity of “natural” or “organic” companies caring more than big business. Frankly thinking that because they make a natrual product gives them some altruistic goals is extremely naive. They are out to make a profit just like Always is.
That said, if you are uncomfortable with tampons or want to weigh your options do research on both sides of the story, and look into alternatives that you feel are viable for you as a person. Don't let your mother or anyone else bully you into making a choice. If you are curious I have a friend who swears by menstrual cups, like the soft cup. I've been kind of curious about it myself because I do personally find that tampons up my menstrual cramps something awful.