Cleaning up could be literally killing the women - new research shows that household cleaning products may contribute to breast cancer, as they may contain endocrine disrupting chemicals or mammary gland carcinogens. The study has been published in Environmental Health.
Participants were 787 Cape Cod, Massachusetts, women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1988 and 1995 and 721 controls. Telephone interviews asked about product use, beliefs about breast cancer origins, and established and suspected breast cancer risk factors.
Breast Cancer during Pregnancy
Management of breast cancer during pregnancy or pregnancy associated breast cancer requires special consideration to avoid harm to the fetus.
Advertisement
Breast cancer risk increased two-fold in the highest compared with lowest quartile of self-reported combined cleaning product use. Little association was observed with pesticide use.
Those who use air fresheners and sprays and foams to remove mould from bathrooms the most were more likely to get the disease, the research suggested. The link was even stronger with solid air fresheners, with those who used them most often twice as likely to be diagnosed. Mould and mildew removers also increased the chances of the disease but no link was found with oven or surface cleaners.
![Household Chemicals can Hamper Women]( "Household Chemicals can Hamper Women")
The presence of household chemicals in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may lower a woman's fertility, caution experts.
The research, by the US Silent Spring Institute, an organisation that looks for links between chemicals and women's health, said in animal studies various compounds were linked to cancer. These include artificial musks added to air fresheners and detergents to make them smell better.
To evaluate potential recall bias, the researchers stratified product-use odds ratios by beliefs about whether chemicals and pollutants contribute to breast cancer, and they compared these results with odds ratios for family history (which are less subject to recall bias) stratified by beliefs about heredity.
However, the researchers cautioned, "The results also highlight the difficulty of distinguishing in retrospective self-report studies between valid associations and the influence of recall bias. Recall bias may influence higher odds ratios for product use among participants who believed that chemicals and pollutants contribute to breast cancer."
That is, they say their findings could have been distorted by the patients looking for something to blame their ill health on. This so-called recall bias could lead them to over-estimate their use of air fresheners, mould and mildew removers while healthy. Cancer patients were also more likely than other women to think chemicals caused the disease.
Still because exposure to chemicals from household cleaning products is a biologically plausible cause of breast cancer, further studies were required, they stressed.
Source: Medindia
Household Chemicals can Hamper Women's Fertility
The presence of household chemicals in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may lower a woman's fertility, caution experts.
Advertisement
The research, by the US Silent Spring Institute, an organisation that looks for links between chemicals and women's health, said in animal studies various compounds were linked to cancer. These include artificial musks added to air fresheners and detergents to make them smell better.
To evaluate potential recall bias, the researchers stratified product-use odds ratios by beliefs about whether chemicals and pollutants contribute to breast cancer, and they compared these results with odds ratios for family history (which are less subject to recall bias) stratified by beliefs about heredity.
However, the researchers cautioned, "The results also highlight the difficulty of distinguishing in retrospective self-report studies between valid associations and the influence of recall bias. Recall bias may influence higher odds ratios for product use among participants who believed that chemicals and pollutants contribute to breast cancer."
That is, they say their findings could have been distorted by the patients looking for something to blame their ill health on. This so-called recall bias could lead them to over-estimate their use of air fresheners, mould and mildew removers while healthy. Cancer patients were also more likely than other women to think chemicals caused the disease.
Still because exposure to chemicals from household cleaning products is a biologically plausible cause of breast cancer, further studies were required, they stressed.
Source: Medindia
Household Pesticides may Be a Hidden Danger to Child IQ
An Australian toxicologist has pointed out that some of the intellectual development problems in children earlier linked to lead, could also be caused by household pesticides.
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Environmental Health
The Ambius small green wall, which contains a variety of indoor plants, was shown to be quite successful at removing hazardous, cancer-causing pollutants.
Public health measures to prevent air pollution could lead to positive effects on patients with heart failure.
Nitrate has brought in two contradictory results, where one study states that it could be heart-healthy while the other points to it as a cancer risk.
Worsened air quality due to climate mitigation efforts could lead to respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
Reduction in plastic pollution results in an increase of 700,000 jobs by 2040, significantly improving the livelihoods of millions of workers in informal settings.