Sanitary pads, an essential hygiene product for menstruating women, became a hot topic online recently after several major companies were accused of reducing the sizes and quality of their products.

Public anger has been mounting since a netizen said in a social media post in early November that 10 sanitary pads she measured with a measuring tape were five to 20 millimeters shorter than the length indicated on their packaging. The tested pads were from popular brands in China.

"Is it really that difficult to make standard pads about 200 mm long these days?" the vlogger said on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu.

"It is now time to reject these companies' skimping on women's items."

Netizens have vented frustration at the review results, saying that they feel betrayed by the companies and that their consumer rights were blatantly trampled upon. At the very least, they said that shorter-than-promised pads could increase the risk of getting menstrual stains on pants and causing embarrassing moments in their lives.

Customers were further outraged by some of the responses from the companies, who defended themselves and said that their items comply with the national standard that allows pads to measure within 4 percent of advertised lengths.

A customer service representative from a company named Always Being Clean said, "If you cannot accept it (the deviation), just don't buy our products."

Online controversies have also extended to discussions about whether the national standard surrounding sanitary pads' pH scale — a measurement of how acidic or alkaline a substance is — is too loose.

The current standard requires a pH value of four to nine for sanitary pads — on par with textiles such as jackets, pants and curtains.

These issues have been popular on micromessaging platform Sina Weibo, with a number of hashtags related to condemning companies, offering tips on choosing quality products or spreading scientific knowledge on women's hygiene becoming some of the most popular topics over the past few weeks.

The heated discussions have prompted apologies from a company executive and have accelerated efforts in revising the existing national standard.

Deng Jingheng, founder of Always Being Clean, said in a video released on Friday that he sincerely apologized to customers for improper statements from the company's customer service representative and that the company has been racing against the clock to improve and upgrade products over the past week.

"We solemnly promise here that we will eliminate negative deviations for some products in December and make all products meet the national standard squarely without any deviations by March of next year," he said.

"We plead for some time to make adjustments," he said. "Netizens are right in that we companies should hold ourselves to higher standards and serve females with higher quality products."

China Newsweek, a magazine, reported that industry associations have logged suggestions from netizens and are analyzing possible revisions to the current national standard on sanitary pads, citing an unnamed official from the China National Light Industry Council, one of the drafters.

Lan Yibing, a gynecologist from Women's Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University's School of Medicine, said during an interview with local media that sanitary pads and cotton bought from legitimate channels will be safe to use. He suggested refraining from overstressing about product quality.

wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn