Cancer woo, chemical woo, toxin woo, etc. all wrapped up in one package (pun intended?) Those who pay attention to breast cancer news (and, of course, I do have a Google Alert set up for just such news) can’t help but notice that late last week there was a flurry of stories (no, not that kind of flurry) about a study looking at the risk of breast cancer due wearing a bra. I’ll cut to the chase. According to this study, there was no increased risk of breast cancer due to wearing a bra, a result that, to breast cancer specialists, was about as surprising as the observation that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, water is wet, and gasoline flammable. However, the myth that wearing bras increases the risk of breast cancer is one of those unsinkable rubber ducks (as James Randi would put it) of a myth that just won’t die. (Most recently it showed up in a Facebook- and Twitter-spread article entitled “Your Bra May Be Killing You – Scientists Call For Boycott Of Komen“, as well as on—of course!—NaturalNews.) I keep hoping that a study will do to this myth what a wooden stake in the heart does to the vampires in True Blood, but unfortunately this is one of those unsinkable rubber ducks of a myth (as James Randi would put it) that refuses to die. So I consider it worthwhile to briefly (for me) discuss how it came about. It’s unclear where and how long ago this myth first appeared, but there’s little doubt on when it was first popularized: 1995. That was the year that a book by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer entitled Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras was published. The central thesis of the book was that bra-wearing is a major cause of breast cancer because of its claimed effect on lymphatic circulation. Basically, the idea was (and still is) that bras interfered with lymphatic drainage and thereby, though unclear mechanisms, caused cancer. The claim was that there are all sorts of “toxins” (of course) that cause cancer and that the lymph vessels drain those “toxins” away from the breast. Thus, if you believe Singer and Grismaijer, these “toxins” are concentrated in the breast by the constriction that bras produce and result in breast cancer. This concept, that “toxins” somehow accumulate if lymphatic drainage is somehow blocked is one of the key concepts behind the quackery that is “detoxification,” used by quacks of many stripes. Such “detoxification” often consists of diets that result in purging, coffee enemas, chelation therapy to “remove heavy metals,” and many other treatments without a solid basis in science. However, “manual lymphatic drainage” is yet another form of quackery, at least when it’s claimed to “detoxify.” Sometimes, the quackery becomes rather amusing, such as when people come up with ideas like the “Brassage.” Read more at bit.ly/TWIPSfb001
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 23:51:58 +0000
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