See the contemporary P&G tampon Trust. See the other tampons Procter & Gamble sold around the time of Rely.
Read also the important following articles (issues listed) in the Rochester (New York) Patriot newspaper, which investigated Rely in 1975 and 1976, years before the toxic shock crisis: 23 July-5 August 1975 (front cover) - 6-26 August 1975 - 11 December 1975-13 January 1976 - 1-14 September 1976) - a letter to a customer assuring her that Rely was safe (April 1980) - and a letter from Procter & Gamble (22 September 1980) announcing that it was stopping distribution of Rely because of health concerns
See also the product safety page on this site, and you must read the definitive government site dealing with menstrual products safety: the Food and Drug Administration's at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocd/tamponsabs.html See the super Rely tampon, two sections of its instructions, and an ad for Rely from 1980 And see some other tampons Procter & Gamble sold around the time of Rely and also early commercial tampons
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
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Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

 

Rely menstrual tampon: It Even Absorbed the Worry!

The Rely tampon, apparently promoting the illness toxic shock in a few users, killed and maimed scores of women in the U.S.A. around 1980. Its maker, the Procter & Gamble Company, then took it off the market. (Read [fourth item down under Letters to Your MUM] what a test participant - she thinks it was for Rely tampons - says about the procedure she underwent.)

Listen to Procter & Gamble tell radio listeners to stop using Rely because of the risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS), probably in 1980 (and read the letter P&G sent to dealers).
And listen to
three radio ads promoting Rely.

It became the most famous tampon in history, after Tampax (see a very early Tampax.)

Many articles have been written exploring the way Rely and other tampons promoted the rapid growth of the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, which caused toxic shock in certain women when in sufficient numbers. (See the Canadian TV film Under Wraps to see a woman maimed by toxic shock, and to meet Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr., whose work helped get Rely off the market; he is a board member of MUM.)

Toxic shock from tampons today is almost unheard of, but there are sometimes problems with contaminants; women are advised to use unbleached all-cotton tampons instead of artificial fibers, or use tampons bleached by a method not producing dioxin. (Men can also get toxic shock - not, of course, from tampons.)

See the valuable information about toxic shock, dioxin, asbestos and other concerns on the pages of the Food and Drug Administration, as well as on this MUM site, with questions answered by Dr. Tierno.

Rely's ironic motto, and its very name, haunted Procter and Gamble for years, and reminds us that the buyer must beware!

P&G now owns Tampax.

See the super Rely tampon, two sections of its instructions , and an ad for Rely from 1980.
See the contemporary P&G tampon Trust.
Read a letter from Procter & Gamble (22 September 1980) announcing that it was stopping distribution of Rely because of health concerns. And see early newspaper articles about the danger of Rely - from cancer! 

 

NEXT: the super Rely tampon, two sections of its instructions , and an ad for Rely from 1980.
Read a letter from Procter & Gamble (22 September 1980) announcing that it was stopping distribution
of Rely because of health concerns. See the other tampons Procter & Gamble sold around the time of Rely.
And see early newspaper articles about the danger of Rely - from CANCER!

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