Women who use powder to freshen their cat traps, beware! Harvard Medical School researchers have found that using talcum powder just once a week to keep fresh can raise the risk of womb cancer by up to 24 per cent. Their report was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
The results, which apply to talcum powder used in the genital area but not the rest of the body, came from 66,000 nurses who signed up to a long-term health and lifestyle study which began in 1982. Almost 600 went on to develop womb cancer, the scientists said. Last year, another Harvard team found daily talc use in the genital area raised a woman's risk of ovarian cancer by up to 41 per cent and urged all women to stop using it immediately. The risks were greatest in the estimated one in ten Caucasian women with a certain genetic profile. Women carrying a gene called glutathione S-transferase M1, or GSTM1, but lacking a gene called glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1), were nearly three times as likely to develop ovarian tumours. Talcum powder is made from a soft mineral called hydrous magnesium silicate that is found naturally. It is crushed, dried and milled to produce powder used in cosmetic products by millions of women. Some experts say it shares chemical similarities to asbestos, which can cause a deadly form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. Tiny particles have been found to travel up through the genital tract and been found deep inside the pelvis. They can also last inside the body for years.
It is estimated that one particle of talc in the lungs, for example, would take eight years to dissolve.
source
0 comments:
Post a Comment