This recent article describes how scientists have found significant links between the disease and women’s use of cleaning products, air fresheners and mould removers. In general the use of cleaners appears to have doubled the risk of breast cancer in women who used them the most.
Not unexpectedly, among the different kinds of products considered, air fresheners and mould and mildew removers had the strongest association. These are the general household products that either see the greatest use or contain the greatest concentrations of largely unregulated, toxic, synthetic chemicals
The research found that mothballs, pesticides and insect repellents had little impact on breast cancer risk.
“Study leader Dr Julia Brody, from the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts, said: “Women who reported the highest combined cleaning product use had a doubled risk of breast cancer compared to those with the lowest reported use.
“Use of air fresheners and products for mould and mildew control were associated with increased risk. To our knowledge, this is the first published report on cleaning product use and risk of breast cancer.”"
This does no surprise me – marketing of household fresheners and ‘freshening’ products has increased exponentially in recent years. It is quite easy to watch a Saturday night movie or one’s favourite sporting event and come away wondering why there is not a scent dispenser in every room of one’s house and perhaps one really should spray a certain masking product after every meal or after the dog comes into the house. Perhaps one should rush off to the bathroom and spray a certain product into the shower just in case a deadly mould spore is lurking there trying to end civilisation as we know it.
This constant low dose lifestyle is probably going to be proven to be more harmful in the long-term and as always the companies introducing and promoting these products are under no legal obligation to prove that they are safe for human use. There is absolutely no testing on the area of synergistic effect when multiple products are combined which is pretty much a normal use pattern for most households.
Full article at this link:
