Alice Kilvert Tampon Alert was set up formally in March 1993. It aims to raise awareness of the possibility of developing Toxic Shock Syndrome during tampon use and to offer support to women who have survived and to bereaved families.
It was the sudden death of Alice Kilvert on 26 November 1991 in Manchester(UK) from tampon-related TSS that caused her family and friends to take this action. Alice was only 15 years old when she died.
Alice was not the only one to die. In the late 1980s a small but significant number of cases of tampon-related TSS cases began to be reported in the press in the UK. A new environmental campaigning group called Women's Environmental Network began to collect information on TSS as part of their research into all sanitary protection. A small group of concerned families worked with WEN to campaign for a Tampon Safety Bill and to provide support for others.
With encouragement and help from WEN, Alice's family and friends founded AKTA and launched their new video on the first Tampon Alert Day - June 8th 1993 - Alice's 17th birthday.
Since then there are many stories to tell - the highs of successful conferences and building strong supportive links and the lows when another life is lost. We want to share these with you, to provide as much up-to-date information as possible and to hear from you.