WHAT IS CAUSING BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN? No one knows for sure, but it’s fairly safe to say that there are likely multiple contributors, many of them environmentally based. Cancer Research UK has singled out hormonal factors, such as having children later in life, having fewer children or taking birth control pills, as probable culprits, for instance. This makes sense, as in 2002 one of the largest and best-designed studies of hormone replacement therapy was halted because women taking these synthetic hormones had such a higher risk of breast cancer (and heart attack, stroke and blood clots) that continuing forward with the study would have been unethical. The news made headlines because millions of women were already taking these synthetic hormones, but fortunately it prompted many of them to quit. And what do you think happened a year after millions of women quit taking hormone replacement therapy? Incidence of breast cancer fell dramatically -- by 7 percent! What does this have to do with the Pill? Birth control pills contain the SAME type of synthetic hormones -- estrogen and progestin -- that were used in the ill-fated study! Even women who aren’t taking birth control pills are exposed to synthetic hormones that have become increasingly widespread in recent years. For instance, parabens are chemicals with estrogen-like properties, and estrogen is one of the hormones involved in the development of breast cancer. Parabens are widely used in personal care products like shampoo, lotion, deodorant, shaving gel and cosmetics. These chemicals have been detected in breast cancer tissues at concentrations up to 1 million times higher than the estrogen (estradiol) levels naturally found in human breast tissue. Propylparaben, in particular, was found in the highest concentration in the underarm area (axilla), where underarm deodorants are most used and breast cancer prevalence is at its highest. Clearly these chemicals are accumulating at alarmingly high concentrations, likely because of their widespread and persistent daily use. And exposure often begins as early as in the womb, the health effects of which are completely unknown.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 17:27:09 +0000
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