Is Deodorant Harmful?

thIn May of 2014 my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and it was something that really hit home with my family. Clearly I had running thoughts of “why my family”, “what did my mom do to deserve this”, and “how did this happen”. I really wanted to find out something that could have caused this, especially because there is no history of it in our families genes. One day I was talking to my grandma and she brought up studies and beliefs of how deodorant may be causal in regards to breast cancer and I became very curious. Could deodorant be causing mutations that lead to breast cancer? I decided to investigate and see.

First, we have to think about the types of ingredients that are used in deodorant. Researchers found that aluminum is the base in many deodorants, which could be absorbed into our skin from shaving and cause estrogen effects. The X variable in these cases being the ingredients in deodorant and the Y as cancer growth. Some researchers fear that aluminum gets absorbed into skin and cause changes in estrogen receptors, which has led to the thoughts that the aluminum could be a risk factor. Scientists have also looked at the parabens in deodorants, which was discovered to build up in breast tissue and were found in 18/20 breast tumors in a 2004 study. Parabens are chemicals used as preservatives and food additives. They are a concern because they have weak estrogen-like properties and estrogen is known to cause breast cells to grow and divide. The same 2004 study that found parabens in the breast tissues was a poorly conducted experimental study though because they didn’t have a controlled experiment. They only used the infected breast tissue and didn’t compare it to anything else, which makes it a poor trial. In both cases there isn’t a clear link between deodorant and breast cancer, leaving room for their to be many confounding variables in place of it.

Although there is an “absence of evidence, but not evidence of absence”- Dr. Philippa Darbre. She has published more than thirty research papers on substances found in deodorant and finds them to be concerning on their own, so once they are mixed and come together who knows what could happen. Again Dr. Dabre’s research has detected parabens in women’s breast tissue but per usual it is unknown how it got there. Again the study she conducted had flaws and couldn’t find a link between the two, but the things being found makes me question that if more studies were conducted if a correlation would be found even though many people seem to shut the idea down. Dr. Ted S. Gansler said there is no convincing evidence of there being a correlation. He claimed that the only study that was well conducted, due to the use of breast cancer patients, survivors, and people in the clear found no evidence that deodorants increase the risk of breast cancer. Although there is not enough research for a correlation to be called upon, I still believe more research should be conducted on the topic. I am going to take precautions and be careful of my use of deodorants right after I shave and where my placement of it is. Although this doesn’t seem to be a cause of breast cancer and there are many other confounding variables, I still am curious to things that could cause the growth of breast cancer.

 

2 thoughts on “Is Deodorant Harmful?

  1. Claire E Going

    Hi Stephanie,

    I’m sorry to hear about your family’s unfortunate situation.
    I heard along with the ingredients of deodorant, the actions of the deodorant can be just as harmful. There’s a difference between just deodorant and deodorant that has antiperspirant qualities. Antiperspirants tend to keep you from sweating, locking up the sweat in your underarms and not allowing it to be released, while regular deodorants allow the sweat to come through, basically just adding a nice smell to it. Antiperspirants are not good for you and there have been many studies that link them to cancer. this website further explains why antiperspirants in deodorant can be so harmful.

  2. sjb5895

    I also agree with you with that we should really be more cautious when it comes to what we put on our skin every day. If aluminum is a possible threat to a woman for breast cancer, then what if scientists make a deodorant that does not contain aluminum? Instead of scientists figuring out why deodorant could cause cancer, why don’t they just stay on the safe side and create a deodorant that has no aluminum in it so that women know that all precautions are being taken when it comes to preventing breast cancer.

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