Household Cleaning Products Linked with Breast Cancer
Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by Raven Schneizer in Health
Using household cleaning products on a daily basis may double the chances of getting breast cancer, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Health.
Specifically the use of air fresheners and mold removers increased women’s chances of getting breast cancer, the study said. But the use of mothballs, pesticides, and insect removers had very little effect.
The study concluded that the use of “endocrine disrupting chemicals” or “mammary gland carcinogens” created the biggest risks. The researchers asked 787 women who had breast cancer between 1988 and 1997 what cleaning products they used. They also asked 721 women without breast cancer what their beliefs are regarding the causes of breast cancer. But the results were skewed due to “recall bias”, meaning that women who thought that chemicals contributed to the risk of developing breast cancer were likely to say that they use a higher amount of cleaning products.
“Simply put, this research is rife with innuendo and speculation about the safety of cleaning products and their ingredients,” said Richard Sedlak, the American Cleaning Industry’s senior vice president of Technical and International Affairs, in a press release. “This is all based on the most cursory look at the scientific literature and the recollection of breast cancer survivors as to the products they used 15 to 20 years ago.”
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