Scotland on Monday became the first country in the world to declare free access to menstrual products such as tampons and sanitary pads.
With the signing of the new law, which became effective this Monday, the British nation seeks to protect free access to these health products.
The new legislation, known as the “Menstruation Products Law,” states that public councils and educational institutions must create methods to make these products freely available.
Since 2017, the country has invested nearly US$30 million to provide tampons and sanitary napkins in public places.
Georgie Nicholson, who runs the British organization Hey Girls, which seeks to make these products free across the UK, told the BBC that the organization had conducted a study before the pandemic that indicated that one in four women in Scotland she had faced period poverty at some point.
“There’s a very simple way to describe period poverty: You go to the supermarket and you have to choose whether you can buy a bag of pasta or a box of tampons. It’s that basic,” she said.
“We hear from many mothers who go without their period protection so they can feed their children and use things like newspaper stuffed in socks or bread…because they are cheaper than tampons and pads.”
Nicholson added that Scotland becoming the first country in the world to offer free period products is a “really huge” milestone.
For its part, in Latin America, the furthest step that has been taken in this regard took place in Colombia, where the consumption tax on tampons and sanitary napkins was removed.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-62562269, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-08-16 10:00:06
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