Its a research result that has left tampon users across the globe stunned.

A team of scientists from U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University and Michigan State University evaluated 30 tampons from 14 different brands and 18 product lines to measure the presence of 16 metals. The findings? All the tampons the researchers tested had all 16 metals in measurable traces, including lead and arsenic.

How has this happened – how worried should tampon users be – and are people who use them all over the world being subtly poisoned when they use one?

Dr Jenni Shearston, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of California Berkeley and co-author of this study, joined Sacha Barbour Gatt to explain the findings.