Do antiperspirants cause breast cancer?

Answer 1

Wouldn't almost all women, in developed countries, have breast cancer is this were true? There has never been a reliable study which proved any connection between breast cancer and deodorants....

"researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are not aware of any conclusive evidence linking the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants and the subsequent development of breast cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates food, cosmetics, medicines, and medical devices, also does not have any evidence or research data that ingredients in underarm antiperspirants or deodorants cause cancer."

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo

This is lengthy, but it will explain why toxins escaping the body via sweat has nothing to do with breast cancer:

"This question keeps coming up because an email has been circulating for a few years now saying that antiperspirant is a major cause of breast cancer. But there is no convincing evidence to support this claim.

The email says that antiperspirant stops poisons (toxins) being removed from the body in sweat and so they build up in the lymph glands under the arm and cause a breast cancer.

There are quite a few misunderstandings in this statement. Many women diagnosed with breast cancer are found to have cancer cells in the lymph glands under the arm. Sometimes, an enlarged lymph gland is the first symptom. But the cancer starts in the breast cells - usually those lining the tubes (ducts) inside the breast. Cancer cells can break away from the tumour in the breast and travel through the lymphatic system to the lymph glands under the arm. The cancer has not started in these lymph glands.

Some toxins are removed from the body through the sweat glands (although most are excreted through the liver and kidneys). The sweat glands are completely different from the lymph glands. Lymph glands are part of the lymphatic system of the body. This acts as a drainage system for the body tissues and helps the body to fight off infections. The lymphatic system is a network of lymph glands and tubes called lymphatic ducts. The fluid bathing the body tissues flows into the smallest of these ducts. These ducts join to form larger and larger ducts. Eventually, the largest lymphatic ducts empty their contents back into the blood circulation. The lymph fluid does not flow in the other direction, so toxins cannot be delivered back to the body tissues from the lymph glands."

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=3943

Answer 2

Makes perfect sense to me. Sweat is the way our body gets rid of toxins, by preventing our body from sweating we are preventing the body from doing it's job so.......

Most things we do that are totally unnatural to the body turn out to be harmful in some way.

Our bodies are very sophisticated and have ways of keeping us well, until we mess with them.

Answer 3

A lot of people say that!! But as far as I've read up, scientists are yet to prove that this is possible. So don't panic too much =)

Answer 4

No, antipersperants and deodorants do not cause breast cancer.

Answer 5

No, that's an urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/antiperspirant.asp