Is there a link?
New cases of breast cancer have doubled in the past 25 years to around 40,000 a year. Around 13,000 women a year die from it. Rates in men have doubled over the same period to 300 a year. Concerns about anti-perspirants centre predominantly on parabens and aluminum.
Parabens have been shown to mimic the effects of the hormone oestrogen, which is known to stimulate tumours in two thirds of women with breast cancer. Evidence was published last year that most breast cancer tumours occur in the ‘upper and outer section’ of the left breast – the area where anti-perspirants are most likely to be applied. The proportion in this “quadrant” was 61 percent in 1994 compared to 31 per
cent in 1926 when use of deodorants and anti-perspirants was rare.
And that’s just the preservative.
Most antiperspirant concerns center more on the active ingredient – an aluminum-based compound
that temporarily plugs the sweat ducts and prevents you from perspiring. Typically, antiperspirants are coupled with a deodorant, which contains the pleasant scent that stops you from smelling.
That pleasant fragrance comes with it’s problems too – often accompanied by the endocrine disrupting phthalates. A number of studies in recent years have clearly linked aluminum-based antiperspirants with the increase the risk for breast cancer.
So why are they still allowed?
There are always counter studies showing ingredient safety. It takes industries years to change. One only needs to look at how long we denied the link between cancer and smoking to understand that humans are slow to react to news they don’t want to hear. In addition, the link is also not direct. No study pinpoints cancer as a direct resultt of the use of parabens and aluminium. There is just a strong link. Our bodies are enduring ongoing chemical burden from many sources.
Why take a chance?
We believe it’s not worth taking the chance. There are really good effective alternatives out there these days so there is no reason to take the risk of exposing your body to the burden of these chemicals and the unintended consequences that they may cause