Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted after blaming US tampon shortage on transgender people

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been blasted as ‘clueless’ after she blamed the US tampon shortage on products being put in men’s bathrooms for transgender people.

The 48-year-old congresswoman claimed that store shelves across the US are bereft of the essential products because ‘men are buying tampons’.

But US companies producing tampons have blamed the shortage on Covid-19 related supply chain issues and shortages in staff.

Proctor & Gamble, the owner of the tampon brand Tampax, said in its most recent earnings call that it was having trouble getting the raw materials needed to make tampons, as well as problems shipping the finished products to stores across the country. 

Yet the Georgia Republican claimed the shortage is due to tampons being put in men’s bathrooms. 

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been blasted as ‘clueless’ after she blamed the US tampon shortage on products being put in men’s bathrooms for transgender people

‘There’s now a shortage of tampons, and that’s probably because men are buying tampons,’ Greene said during a discussion about the transgender community on the conservative Right Side Broadcasting Network.

‘They put tampons in men’s bathrooms. So this is the war on women.’

Her claims sparked backlash, with many Twitter users calling her ‘clueless’.

One user wrote: ‘Crazy Rep. Greene says there is a shortage of Tampons because Trans men are using them. She says they are being put in men’s bathrooms.

‘What she should have said, if she wasn’t such a massive liar, is the problem is a shortage of materials. By why let truth spoil your narrative.’   

Another user responded to Greene’s comments and wrote: ‘Uh… no they aren’t. There’s a shortage because of a raw material shortage by, you guessed it, shipping issues that resulted from the pandemic and haven’t recovered.’

American writer Susan Eloise Hinton tweeted: ‘Beyond stupid.’ 

Her claims sparked backlash, with many Twitter users calling her ‘clueless’

P&G noted in a recent earnings call that it was having trouble sourcing raw materials for tampons and other feminine care products, as well as getting them on trucks bound for retailers. 

Raw materials that go into tampons, including cotton, rayon, and sometimes pulp and plastic for applicators, have been some of the most in-demand raw materials throughout the pandemic, Time reported, because these material have gone into medical products.

Sheng Lu, a professor in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies at the University of Delaware, said this is the third straight year the demand for cotton has exceeded production.

‘Tampons are a staple product—a life necessity,’ Lu told Time. ‘If you look at the pricing strategy for the big players, they will consider more price increases for these necessity products.’

Women have been complaining that they have been unable to access the essential sanitary products for weeks. 

One woman tweeted: ‘Just came from Walgreens and year, the tampon shortage is real. If you use cotton I’d go ahead and pray your next period’s light.’

Another tweeted: ‘A tampon shortage? Do y’all just hate women? I’m about to give birth soon and there’s no formula and no tampons? What am I supposed to do?’

A nationwide baby formula shortage was triggered when the largest baby formula factory in the US closed February after a bacteria contamination and has since worsened nationally.

Abbott Laboratories finally reopened infant formula production at its facility in Sturgis on Saturday having met FDA requirements agreed to last month.

And before the recall of the Abbott formula, 11% of powdered baby formula was out of stock because of Covid pandemic-related supply-chain shortages and inflation. Before the pandemic, the normal out-of-stock range for powdered formula was 5% to 7%, according to IRI.

Greene has faced criticism in the past for her statements about the transgender community. In February, she appeared to suggest the threat of violence is how people need to ‘stand up’ against transgender and nonbinary people. 

She also said moves to strengthen LGBT rights in the US would ‘put trans rights above women’s rights. 

Greene has faced criticism in the past for her statements about the transgender community

Greene was also mocked online last month for claiming that Bill Gates wants you to eat meat grown in a ‘peach tree dish’.

‘You have to accept the fact that the government totally wants to provide surveillance on every part of your life,’ Greene said in the latest episode of MTG Live, broadcast on her social media channels.

‘They want to know when you are eating, they want to know if you are eating a cheeseburger – which is very bad because Bill Gates wants you to eat his fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish.’

She continued: ‘So you will probably get a little zap inside your body and that is saying ‘no, no, don’t eat a real cheeseburger, eat the fake burger,’ the fake meat from Bill Gates.

‘They probably also want to know when you go to the bathroom, if your bowel movements are on time or consistent. I mean, what else do these people want to know?’

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Marjorie Taylor Greene has warned that Bill Gates wants people to eat meat grown in a ‘peach tree dish’

Greene, famed for her embrace of conspiracy theories, was referring to the meat alternatives such as Impossible Burger and Beyond.

Gates is an investor, either personally or through Breakthrough Energy Ventures, in several companies working to produce alternatives to meat, including Beyond Meats, Carbon Engineering, Impossible Foods, and Memphis Meats.

The UN estimates that livestock rearing makes up more than 14 percent of all man-made greenhouse gases, including methane, worldwide – with beef the worst culprit. 

Greene’s comments were met with ridicule.

Adam Kinzinger, her fellow Republican congressman, tweeted: ‘Oh my goodness. @RepMTG completely said ‘peach tree dish’!!!!!!’

One Twitter user suggested: ‘I propose using Marjorie Taylor Greene and her peach tree dish video for a ‘stay in school’ PSA.

‘Her stupidity is a terrible thing to waste.’

Another referenced her infamous February invocation of the ‘gazpacho police’, when she meant the gestapo.

Taylor Greene declared: ‘Not only do we have the DC jail which is the DC gulag, but now we have Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do, spying on our staff and spying on American citizens.’

On Monday, one person joked: ‘If you want to make sure Bill Gates can’t track you through your cheeseburger, always cook your meat in a peach tree dish. If the Gazpacho Police happen to show up, hit ’em with your space laser. Pew pew @RepMTG.’

Another said: ‘If I’m magnetized from the vaccine, do the cheeseburger tracking devices still work?’