Living With Uncertainty: Microplastics, Period Products and Why Small Choices Matter

By Susan Hanna (Co-Founder)

I was recently in Fontainebleau, France, speaking at one of the world’s leading business schools about what we are learning through our startup journey.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by smart, generous people who care deeply about “business for good.” Not business as charity. Not business as a slogan. But business as a way to build better options for health, dignity, the planet and each other.

While I was there, I attended a talk about risk and uncertainty by economics professor Pushan Dutt. Something he said stayed with me:

Risk can be measured. Uncertainty cannot, at least not yet.

The difference between risk and uncertainty

The risk of a heart attack, being hit by lightning, or experiencing a house fire can usually be described in terms of probability. These events can be studied, priced, insured and planned for.

Uncertainty is different.

It exists when the possible outcomes or the likelihood of those outcomes is not fully known.

How much will AI reshape our jobs, economies and children’s futures? What will climate change mean not only in 2050, but this summer, this year, in the places where we live and travel?

These questions are difficult to quantify, insure against or neatly solve.

And yet, we live with them every day.

We feel uncertainty in the changing climate, shifting technology and institutions that no longer seem as permanent as they once did.

Then there are quieter uncertainties: the things we touch, wear, eat, absorb and throw away.

Microplastics and the materials used in everyday products are among them.

What do we know about microplastics?

We know more than we once did. Microplastics are now widespread throughout the environment, and researchers continue to investigate how exposure may affect ecosystems and human health.

We also know that some chemicals associated with plastics may interfere with the body’s hormonal system. These are often described as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs. 

But we do not yet know everything.

We do not have a perfect personal risk score for a lifetime of exposure. We cannot say exactly how every material, product and repeated daily choice adds up over decades.

That is the unsettling part.

What remains uncertain today may become more measurable tomorrow as the evidence develops.

So, what do we do in the meantime?

Better options give us room to act

We create options.

That was my biggest takeaway.

Options can help us reduce unnecessary exposure. They give us room to act before every answer is available. They help us move from helplessness to agency.

We do this all the time.

We wear seatbelts not because we expect to crash every time we drive, but because the precaution is simple and protective.

We save money not because we know exactly what emergency is coming, but because life has surprises.

We choose sunscreen, read food labels, carry water, and teach our children to ask questions. We try to make thoughtful decisions with incomplete information.

None of these choices makes life certain.

But they may leave us better prepared and less unnecessarily exposed.

What does this mean for period products?

For many of us, period products are something we started using because they were handed to us by a parent, school nurse or friend, or because they were the familiar brand on the supermarket shelf.

We did not always ask what they were made from.

We did not always know we could ask.

And, to be fair, most people are not looking for another complicated thing to worry about. Periods are already enough. Life is already enough.

But a quiet shift is happening.

More people are asking:

• What materials are touching my body?
• What happens to this product after I throw it away?
• Are there ingredients or materials I would prefer to avoid?
• Are better period-care options available now?
• Can the brand clearly explain what its products contain?

These questions are not extreme. They are reasonable.

They are not about fear. They are about care.

Care for our bodies. Care for our children. Care for the planet. Care for the future versions of ourselves who may be grateful that we asked better questions earlier.

Why OVO is taking a different approach

At OVO, we are not pretending to have solved every problem.

We are not perfect. No product is.

But we are trying to build a better period-care option.

OVO pads are plant-based and made without superabsorbent polymers, fragrances, dyes or intentionally added PFAS. They use a bamboo top layer and a plant-cellulose absorbent core. 

Our aim is to create period care that feels comfortable and reliable while using more thoughtfully selected materials.

We also believe trust should not rely only on beautiful packaging or reassuring words.

That is why certifications, material transparency and independent verification matter to us.

In a market filled with terms such as “natural,” “clean,” “organic,” “sustainable” and “safe,” people deserve clearer ways to understand what those words mean and what evidence supports them.

Uncertainty does not disappear because a label sounds reassuring.

It becomes easier to navigate when companies clearly explain their materials, evidence and limitations.

Why Plastic Free July matters

That is why Plastic Free July feels meaningful to us.

Not because any of us can live perfectly plastic-free. Most of us cannot.

But because it invites us to pause.

It asks us to notice where plastic has become almost invisible: in our bathrooms, bags, routines and products we use every month without thinking about what they contain or where they go next.

That pause matters.

Sometimes change begins not with a dramatic life overhaul, but with one honest question:

Is there a better option?

That question has shaped much of OVO.

It is why we talk about endocrine disruptors.

It is why we talk about forests.

It is why we talk about materials.

It is also why we partnered with Jessica Franklin of The Live Lightly Podcast, who helps people explore microplastics, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and how to assess what and who we can trust. 

Small period-care choices can still matter

The evidence is growing.

The uncertainty continues.

And we continue to build and support better options.

In uncertain times, the goal is not to know everything.

The goal is to pay attention.

To ask better questions.

To make the next choice a little more intentional than the last.

Maybe that choice is switching one product. Maybe it is reading one materials list. Maybe it is talking to your daughter about what goes into the products she uses. Maybe it is deciding that comfort, health and sustainability do not need to be separate conversations.

Small choices will not solve everything.

But they are not nothing.

They are signals.

They tell the market what we value.

They tell companies what we expect.

They tell our children that we were willing to care before all the data was complete.

And sometimes, in a world full of uncertainty, that is where hope begins.

Not in certainty.

In having a better option.

Ready to reconsider what is in your period products?