Scotland first in world to make period products free - BBC News 

This is the start of a new period.

Maybe they should also just stop taxing period products. It’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Something that should have been done year's ago

As a man, or just a human, I believe this should be done everywhere. Huge round of applause to the people who passed this.

Rather my taxes go towards this than most of the rubbish it's spent on

Pity nothing is being done about the fanny's in Westminster 😂

Who's just here for the comments?

So these free tampons have no strings attached?

Smugglers crossing the border into England with trucks full of sanny pads. 'The Blood run' !! lol

...just in time for the Christmas Period.

Scotland have smashed it, period!

Thank you very much for recognising women's struggle in life. This is GREAT 👍

I found a fossil of a tampon but I don’t know what period it’s from?

pads and tampons should not be free.. just tax-exempt.. especially if toilet paper, and tooth paste has to be paid for..

All countries should make period products free. We need to help end period poverty, to help women feel more confident and happy.

This is flowing in the right direction

Why do they show african countries and not scottish women.

ohh i thought this meant shops literally can't sell them anymore but it just means women can get them for free like schools giving free contraception

This is a great step forward for everyone. However, it's a topsy-turvy world where we recognise these products should be free, and yet water isn't.

Sounds reasonable, rather than pay tax to BBC

I doubt very much that manufacturers receive no payment, nothing is ever free someone somewhere has to pay, period.

Where are they coming from? Is the Scottish government going to pay all the manufacturing costs or purchase them in bulk from all the different brands? Is the market being shut to private companies? Are retailers not allowed to charge anything, or not allowed to make a profit? How are they determining "need"? Where is a woman supposed to get them? Is she able to ask her son or husband to grab a package on their way home? I have about a billion questions swimming through my mind.

Since theyre making essentials free, I expect food, housing, and toilet paper to all be handed out by government from now on

It's about bloody time! 😂.... If men had periods then this would have happened decades ago! 🤷‍♀....wish the rest of the UK would do the same TBH!

In every country it should be tax free at least 👍 Sell the products in subsidised rates

BIG RESPECT TO SCOTLAND, FOR HONOURING THIS ISSUE 💥💥🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

They may be free in Scotland but we English will be paying for them.

I have no problem making them tax exempt (20% VAT or even more) but giving them away is just ridiculous. No wonder Scotland is over budget.

THANK YOU SCOTLAND. Seriously I can’t believe it took us THIS LONG to get ONE country to make sanitary products free. They should be free everywhere! We’re having to pay for something we can’t control and that’s not right.

Hope theres a regulation against reselling them out of Scotland

Women in Scotland can afford these things just as men can afford condoms. And, if anyone(male or female) can't afford these things for being too poor..., that's why we have welfare for. This whole measure is completely redundant.

So this was the rivers of blood speech!

Just a reminder that it was the EU that hiked the price of Period Products across ALL EU states as they saw them as 'luxury items' as some women in eastern europe still use rags, hence the term 'on the rag' or 'she lost her rag' etc. This was called the 'tampon tax'.

Let's make everything "free". Free stuff for everyone!

Well done About time women had these products as part of health care

Amazing step 👏 👏👏 Actually both boys and girls should be taught about what menstruation is.

There is no such thing like a free period.

This project is for Scotland, so why is the news showing us clips from nations in africa, where they actually have the problem?????

So many young girls without mothers or sisters struggle in the home and life so this . Makes it easier, not many dads after having kids have sense they have daughters with different needs to sons. Schools should provide them or the ones with severe menstruation (dysmenorhea) definately need them no matter what age

Tampons are 3.5p each from Aldi. This is just a huge virtue signal.

What about bogroll?

so who's covering the cost of production , as im sure companies wont make them for free

And then complain they do not have not enough money

They are not free, the public still pays the companies. It's just that now people who don't use them contribute to the cost.

When you say "Free" do you mean it will be illegal for the producer to apply a retail price or that the tax payer will now be paying more for the same product in order to hand them out?

Seeing a lot of comments saying "And we english taxpayers are paying for it!" Well, that wouldn't be the case if Scotland was independent.

Why do people on their period rap so well? They got a mean flow

Congratulations to Scotland! This should be done everywhere around the world.

Well done Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙌❤️ This should be the norm. Period products are a necessity and should be free for anyone that needs them. Hopefully the rest of the world follows.

No such thing as free. Paid from your taxes.

Our great-grandmothers never paid for sanitary products - they used old rags that were then washed and reused.

About bleedin time.

What's red and sits in a tree? A sanitary owl

The UK is in a massive debt cause of corona virus people are dying in the streets without a job and the government decide to pay for all the period products instead of lowering tax

Why is everyone in the comments so butthurt over potentially having their taxes used to pay for pads and tampons?? Like whats the issue with helping half the population with obtaining a necessary product for something they can't control every month? Genuinely baffled

Correction: England’s taxpayers first in world to make period products free in another nation

That's a good step for us men then can't wait for free toilet paper

This will end in an comprehensive care package for the poor, no more money but goods to keep them healthy enough for working.

Period poverty, where parents can afford smart phones and designer shoes for themselves and their kids, but they can't afford even the cheapest tampons at just pennies each. The bodily function argument could be used for toilet paper, tissues, ear wax removal products, nappies, razors, nail clippers, and even food if you think about it. Whereas previously only women paid for tampons, now women and men are paying 50% each via taxes for something that only affects women.

Except they're not "free" are they?!

We humans are always hungry, give us free food. Can you?

Can _ladies of a certain age_ get a refund? Forty-odd years worth would do and help towards paying for incontinence pads!

Nothing is free you fools!

Good on Scotland, hopefully the world follows. Calling these a luxury is a JOKE.

I'd rather have my free speech to be honest 🙁

What about toilet tissue? More people need that.

The rest of the U.K. must be wondering how Scotland can afford all these freebies ? Free bus passes. Free prescriptions. Free university tuition. Free personal care for older people. Free baby boxes. And now free tampax.

I like the idea of passing laws that make it the responsibility of someone else to organise and pay for something to give away free. In the interests of equality what are men going to get for nothing?

Funny how they'll dedicate time and energy to this but won't lift a finger to fix the Scottish education system or drug problem.

Alhamdulilah i love that congratulations to Scotland for being the first to provide women with free period products I found that so good especially for the homeless women in the street it's quite sad that they don't even have period pads or baby wipes to clean themselves when they're on their period so this is very good news im so happy

Ridiculous they need a law for this. There are programs in place all over the world that provide these free services and many others and no law was required for it to happen. It's called charity. Is charity not a thing in Scotland?

To think in my lifetime the average woman in Scotland could be as much as £80-£100 per year better off , it's incredible a real landmark victory. Imagine the limitless possibilities they have with that extra £2 per week, I just wish the Pankhursts were here to witness it . Congratulations Scotland x

We will all be paying for these products and probably 5 times the normal price.

That is what progress looks like... In Spain they are taxed as "luxury items".

And England will foot the bill I am sure, just like we do for Scotland's free perscriptions and higher education 🙄

Och!!just when I don’t need them anymore!bloody ridic!!

For all the people complaining about the tax payer having to pay for this or that its some weird new thing it's not. In the UK you can already go to a sexual health clinc and get free condoms, you can get the pill or other contraceptions for free. Adding the ability for women, especially teenage girls to go somewhere and get free period products isn't going to break the bank. Get over yourselves.

What a joke. The SNP cant balance the books. Racking up Billion in Scottish National debt by constantly over spending year on year since they got in power. Instead of spending the money they were given for public services they stashed away 2 Billion to start a Scottish National bank!!!! With Scottish tax payers money??? That money should have been helping people in need of financial help. The SNP dont care about the normal hard working people of Scotland. The SNP just want to carry on driving towards a so call "Second independence Vote" so they can sign over Scottish Independence directly into the EU's complete control !!!!! With a worse deal than the UK had with the EU. The SNP are Bonkers.

But menstruation jokes are still not accepted

The subject has certainly brought a flood of bloody good amusing comments. Welcome light relief in this long period of stress and unrest.

Next, free food and clothes.

Free???? We all will be paying for it. Where do you think the money come from??

I didn't know Scotland is a third world country.

Im not a woman but i was raised as an only son among 3 girls, and periods became a normal subject in the house, i had to respect it and understand what they go through, and that people without the needed medical support are in even more pain. So I’m glad that we are making a start for women to no longer need to pay to not suffer.

Seems like they struggle with what 'free' actually means. I'm sure the cost to tax payers will be far higher than the RRP. An amazing achievement.

Probably something to do with the SNP increasing Poverty........Period!

England pays the bills so why not? Absolutely marvellous.

Pads and tampons are free but food (something you need to SURVIVE) isn't free

And who's going to pay for them. Wouldn't it have been better just to knock off the VAT on them?

I dont want to pay for that.

I remember seeing a woman pull out a bus clipper card, when I was 13 and asked a friend why she kept it there. My friend replied so she don't lose it and can get home. So this should have been done 20 years ago.

Women menstruate approximately 5 days a month. In a year it is then 60 days. Therefore, if we menstruate for approximately 40 years, it would be a total of 2400 days or 80 months or 6.7 years which is equivalent to 6 years 8 months and 2 weeks. This involves a lot of blood, so we need protection. For that, we find "feminine protections" in supermarkets and pharmacies. There are many brands of tampons, sanitary pads and panty liners, as well as different models of these; so that we can find one that we like, "a product for every need", some companies use their slogan. With wings, without wings, ultra-fine, mesh fabric, soft fabric, abundant flow, medium flow, little flow, nocturnal, aromatic, very beautiful colors and designs. Every month women stock up on the necessary amount of protections. A woman uses approximately 5 normal sanitary napkins a day, we then use a total of 25 sanitary napkins during a month, or 3 normal pads and 1 night pad adding 15 normal pads and 5 night pads a month. Each sanitary pad is worth approximately 70 Chilean pesos and night pads 100 pesos each. In a month we then spend between 1,550 and 1,750 pesos. If we add to that the costs of tampons and panty liners are approximately 5,180 pesos more per month. In one year the expense can be between 23,780 and 26,080 pesos. In forty years it is a total of 951,200 and 1,043,200 pesos this ONLY if we use the cheapest brands and we do not have an abundant flow. If we have a normal flow then we use approximately 13,000 sanitary napkins throughout our lives. If each pad after use weighs 5 grams, we produce 65 kg of garbage per year only in sanitary napkins. In forty years it is 2,600 kg of garbage. In other words, for every one hundred menstruating women in Chile we produce 6,500 kg of garbage a year. In forty years we throw away 260 tons of highly polluting and non-degradable menstrual protection in our environment. Remember that a sanitary napkin takes not 100 years or 200 years to degrade but 500 years! The pad packages do not provide information on the substances and raw materials used to manufacture the dressings. In some, only cellulose, polyethylene (one of the most common plastics), silicone paper, cotton, polyester, polypropylene (non-woven plastic cloth), bleached paper pulp, and flavorings are disclosed. On the Internet we can find more information about the toxic components used: dioxin, polyacrylate, rayon and asbestos. Dioxin: It is a highly toxic unwanted component, its chemical production involves chlorine. The latter is used to bleach tampons, sanitary napkins and panty liners. Dioxins that remain in bleached products are derived from this industrial process. Dioxins seriously affect the reproductive organs causing reproduction and development problems, it can cause fetal malformations, it affects the immune system and the rest of the tissues in our body. It is a slow decomposition substance that can be stored in the body, its interference with our hormones causes dioxin to be classified as a carcinogenic substance. It is associated as one of the causes of endometriosis, a gynecological disease that consists of the uncontrolled growth of endometrial tissues (mucous membranes that line the uterine walls), this disease can cause dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), pelvic pain and infertility. Experts point out that this compound is not easily eliminated, it can take five years to halve, it does not degrade and therefore accumulates in tissues. A simple dose of the deadliest dioxin can kill a rat. Polyacrylate: It is a chemical compound. It is an odorless white powder that has the ability to absorb large amounts of liquid. This is used as the famous "absorbent gel". Studies show that it is associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) like rayon. TSS is caused by a toxin produced by certain types of staph bacteria. The use of tampon, especially if it is left for a long time, can cause this disease. The symptoms are confusion, diarrhea, headaches, fever, hypotension (low blood pressure), muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, seizures, seizures and in the worst cases it can lead to failure in organs such as the kidneys and the liver. Rayon: It is a synthetic fabric. Man-made fibers are made from chemicals that are produced from materials such as oil, wood, and coal. This fiber is highly absorbent and is used to contain blood and vaginal fluids. It prevents the skin from breathing normally. In addition, it retains moisture, causing increased body perspiration, this can cause wounds in the vagina and an abnormal increase in bacterial flora that can lead to vaginal infections and urinary infections. When tampons are used when they are removed from the vaginal cavity, fibers remain inside, tampon remains that can also cause the most diverse discomforts such as bad smell, infections, bleeding, TSS, among others. Asbestos: Asbestos is a group of minerals that is used in tiles, tiles, slate sheets, tiles, cement, paper products, car clutches, brakes, containers, packaging, coatings, paint, talcum, sanitary napkins and tampons. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Environmental Protection, and the International Bureau for Cancer Research have shown that asbestos-related products cause cancer. The Ministry of Health in Chile prepared the "Manual for the Preparation of a Work Plan with Materials that Contain Friable and Non-Friable Asbestos" here they explain that the mineral can produce irreversible damage to health, this mineral has been classified as highly carcinogenic for the human being. On the other hand, there are studies that deny the use of asbestos in sanitary napkins and tampons, but there are also studies that corroborate its existence as a market strategy. Donna C. Booisseau, from the University of Illinois, indicates that: "The tampon industry includes asbestos in its products with the intention of making women bleed more during their menstrual period and thus favor the increase in consumption of this merchandise." We are being attacked every month with toxins in our bodies that can cause fatal diseases and we are also damaging our environment every time we use any of these products. The manufacturers of pads, panty liners and tampons together with governments manipulate us through propaganda that these products are the best option for when we are menstruating. Thus, they are in charge of ignoring the toxic components and their consequences on women's health and at the same time keeping us ignorant about this issue. No more manipulation by big business and politicians! It is time for these entities to stop getting sick and contaminating our bodies to fill their pockets. It is time to act and become aware! Experiment with other alternatives and do not be blind with what the market tells us. There are alternative products to toxicity that are in pharmacies and supermarkets. The alternatives are positive for your comfort, economy, your health and the environment. Here are three alternatives that are ecological, economical, hygienic and without damage to our body. Reusable sanitary pads: They are 100% cotton, absorbent and without chemicals, they are reused by washing them after use. They keep us fresh, clean and safe. They are comfortable, reusable and biodegradable. Depending on the care taken, they will last between 2 to 4 years. You can find them on the web if you are interested in buying them or making them yourself by following a tutorial on RU-vid. Menstrual Cup: There are many brands with various names. It is used as a tampon, the difference is that it stores blood and vaginal fluids, it does not absorb them like tampons, which does not cause vaginal dryness and therefore does not have the risk of causing infections. Stores approximately 30 ml, therefore it is not necessary to empty it as often as towels or tampons. It is chemical-free, made of soft silicone and is boiled at home after and before use to kill possible bacteria. It can last up to 10 years if we take proper care of it. Period panties; These are just like your ordinary panties except they absorb your period. Some even have a pocket for heating pad. You wash them with cold water and hang to dry. You’ll stop worrying about leaking and you can use it all day long. You can buy it on online. Thinx and Confitex are great brands Keep in mind that these products are expensive about $35-50 but they will save you money and you won’t have to buy them again in a long time. You will also do a great favor to the environment.

Free for "everyone"? That's going to cost a fortune, who's going to pay for it?

Not once in this article did they mention the cost to taxpayers for this policy. regardless of the rights or wrongs of each individual policy, there should be a duty to inform people of the full costs of each said policy.

Pardon me for not buying into the 'period poverty' myth. These products are not expensive, they can be under 30p for a pack of 10 and at most under a pound, if you cannot budget for this while these same girls have make up and mobile phones then perhaps the families involved need budgeting advice rather than free sanitary products. What I find odd is the description of using 'newspapers', where do these newspapers come from, are they given to the woman for free or has she bought it, a newspaper costs more than a packet of sanitary towels. Sanitary wear costs less now than when I was a teenager in the 1970s, I came from a less well off family with three members needing sanitary wear and we never had to go without them, nor did we go hungry. Don't worry, the next poverty thing will be 'toiletry poverty' where people will say they can't afford soap and deodorants and fool mugs into giving them free stuff. Seriously, these families who claim not to be able to feed their kids and buy their daughters sanitary wear should have to show what they are spending their money on and get budgeting advice because they clearly cannot handle money. Talk about enabling future generations to be expecting a lifetime of handouts.

They cost 10p each FFS! Who the hell can't afford that? I bet they've got the latest phone on contract though....

where's my free toilet paper!

Clothes are essential, food is essential, housing is essential, none of these are paid for by government? Why do women get a free pass for periods?

Going for a poo is normal ...so when do we get our free Andrex super soft

Scotland made them free probably at England’s expense