FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT TO DEBUT IN FALL

PETER MALBIN

NEW YORK -- Safeway, Albertson's, Lucky's, Fred Meyer and Supervalu are among the retailers in the Pacific Northwest committed to selling the new feminine hygiene product INSTEAD, according to Ultrafem Inc., the manufacturer based here.

The product, which collects -- rather than absorbs -- menstrual fluid, and is worn in the upper vaginal canal, was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993.

The product will be available to distributors in August and should be on supermarket shelves by mid-September, according to Ultrafem.

Retailers in San Francisco; Seattle; Spokane, Wash.; Sacramento, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and Boise, Idaho, who will be the first to sell this feminine hygiene alternative include Walgreens, Longs, and Payless/Thrifty. Supermarkets contacted by SN declined to comment on the rollout.

According to distributors, the product is still relatively unknown, and whether it succeeds or not remains to be seen. Ultrafem intends to introduce INSTEAD across the country over a three-year period.

"It is the first alternative to tampons and pads in 60 years," said Deb Fienberg, senior marketing manager at Ultrafem. INSTEAD is made of plastic material that has been used in other health-care products, such as catheters, syringe tips and baby-bottle nipples. "One of the product's advantages is that it allows women to have clean and comfortable sexual intercourse while they have their periods," Fienberg noted. Instead is also designed for wear for up to 12 hours at a time. Like any new product, it can take some getting used to, Feinberg acknowledged. But in usage tests, 80% of women said they would continue to use the product, she said.