Deodorants and Breast Cancer – Make Up Your Own Mind
When I was writing Done & Dusted last year, a cancer charity was helping me care for somebody recovering from chemo. I heard from several patients there that deodorants containing parabens and aluminium should be avoided. When it comes to writing about the latest scientific discoveries relating to serious illnesses like cancer, screaming tabloid headlines haven’t helped anybody. We’ve become immune. But one of the many useful things about ebooks is that you can link the reader to reputable websites for further reading so that they can make up their own minds – especially handy for controversial subjects like this one.
In Done & Dusted I link to Cancer Research UK which says that there’s no convincing evidence that antiperspirants and deodorants cause breast cancer and the whole scare was started by an e-mail hoax. And to the charity Breakthrough Breastcancer which says there is no evidence to suggest that deodorants or antiperspirants to an increase in breast cancer risk. Breakthrough quotes a research project: “The largest study to date to investigate this issue examined the deodorant or antiperspirant use and underarm shaving habits of 813 women with breast cancer and 793 women with no history of the disease. There was no overall difference in deodorant and antiperspirant use and underarm shaving habits.” The study was published in 2002 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).
I said: “There may not be any conclusive evidence but paraben-free and aluminium-free deodorants have now reached the High Street with one currently sporting Breast Cancer charity ribbons. All sorts of big brand ‘Natural’ antiperspirants with minerals and green packaging are also hitting the shelves, backed by major advertising campaigns. Quite an email hoax. Thankfully it’s a personal choice. If you want to avoid parabens and aluminium, check the contents labels of all products, including those in green packaging, before buying. My way round it is to keep a powerful main brand antiperspirant for days when I think I might need it, but for day to day use I’ll be sticking to my Weleda deodorant. It contains no aluminium or pthalates (artificial fragrance – another story, see below) and uses natural ingredients to neutralise odour. Cancer Research UK points out that most modern deodorants are paraben-free now (so a move in the right direction then). I’ll add, though, that the ingredients to look out for and avoid are: methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, or benzylparaben.”
Another advantage ebooks have over paper books is that you can update them with new information as it becomes available. You can also interact with your readers. Several reader top tips have been added to later versions of Done & Dusted. Anybody who’s already bought doesn’t miss out because the updates go up on this blog and the publisher’s newsletter keeps everyone informed of when this happens.
So, back to deodorants: a fine example of this method in action. By chance, a friend mentioned to me that an oncologist had given a talk at her daughter’s Year 13 leaving ceremony:
October 2010 Update: A few weeks ago Dr Philippa Darbre, Senior Lecturer in Oncology at the University of Reading, gave a speech at a friend’s daughter’s school. She talked a lot about parabens and cancer. It was, in fact, her research,
back in 2004, that contributed to the debate about deodorants and breast cancer. Her 2004 article “The Enemy Oestrogen” states: “The strongest supporting evidence comes from unexplained clinical observations dating back decades and showing a disproportionately high incidence (up to 60%) of breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant of the breast. A simple explanation may relate to this being the local area to which underarm cosmetics are applied. Another set of clinical observations without adequate explanation are those showing the left breast to be more prone to cancer than the right breast, and this may also simply relate to greater application on the left side by a population which in majority is righthanded. More recently, two epidemiological studies have been carried out with the specific aim of identifying any association between underarm cosmetic use and development of breast cancer. A study in 2002 (as mentioned above) reported no difference in use of antiperspirants or deodorants between patients with breast cancer and those without breast cancer at the time of the study. In stark contrast, a study in 2003 showed an earlier age of diagnosis of breast cancer (by up to 22 years) in those who had used more antiperspirant/deodorant products.” I contacted Professor Darbre to see if, in 2010, she was still concerned about parabens, oestrogen and the links between deodorants and breast cancer. Indeed she very much is. She sent me her paper: ‘Environmental Oestrogens and Breast Cancer: Evidence For Combined Involvement of Dietary, Household and Cosmetic Xenoestrogens’, written with Amelia K Charles and published in February 2010 by the Biomedical Sciences Section, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading.
It starts off with a few facts. Over the past 30 years breast cancer incidence has nearly doubled in England and Wales. From 21,446 new cases recorded in 1979 (84.5 cases per 100,000 people) to 40,452 in 2006 (145.6 per 100,000 people). In the 1970s less than 10% of breast cancer tumors in the UK were lobular, ductal or medullary. At the end of the 1990s the figure was 75% with ductal carcinomas accounting for 60% of all breast cancer cases. Though research efforts are revealing increasing numbers of environmental compounds with oestrogenic properties measured in human breast tissue, there is still no proven link with breast cancer. At the current time this “remains uncertain”. But, “whilst cosmetic chemicals applied to the underarm and breast also need more research, the disproportionate incidence of breast cancer in the Upper Outer Quadrant is clarified”. Professor Darbre doesn’t underestimate the amount and complexity of the research that still needs to be done. In the meantime: “the decision to apply oestrogenically active compounds in cosmetic products lies entirely with the user.” Dr Darbre’s online profile states: “The central role of oestrogen in breast cancer poses serious unanswered questions concerning the role of the many environmental chemicals which possess oestrogenic activity and which can enter the human breast. In the modern world, the breast is exposed to numerous oestrogenic compounds through diet, the domestic environment and use of cosmetic products. Studies are focused on determining the cellular and molecular actions of oestrogenic compounds which can be measured in the human breast and on trying to understand how exposure to multiple compounds in the long-term may impact on breast biology. If exposure to complex mixtures of oestrogenic chemicals is a factor in breast cancer development, then a strategy for prevention of breast cancer might become a reality.”
Dr Dabre is a patron of Cancer Active a holistic cancer information charity which provides information on orthodox, complimentary and alternative cancer therapies and treatments.
Dr Dabre’s work is a subject we’ll be returning to in more detail in another ebook currently in production.
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