Pioneering consumer advocate Debra Lynn Dadd -- author of Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, TheNontoxic Home & Office, and Home Safe Home -- gives advice for choosing products that are betterfor your health and the environment. She discloses health and environmental effects of commonproducts, reveals harmful ingredients that aren't on product labels, tells how to choose safer products,and offers tips for making products yourself.
Do you want to choose and use products that are better for your health and the environment, but don'tknow how to choose them or where to find them? Then this column is for you.
DO ANTIPERSPIRANTS CAUSE CANCER? A reader sent me a question about a posting she found on the Internet,which stated that antiperspirants are the leading cause of cancerbecausethey prevent you from releasing toxins through perspiration, and thenthesetoxins are stored in the lymph nodes and cause breast cancer (seehttp://www.snopes.com/toxins/breast.htm).
She asked for my comments, and here they are.
I do not agree that the leading cause of breast cancer isantiperspirant.
I do agree that "Anti-perspirant, as the name clearly indicates,prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purgingtoxins from below the armpits." and because of this do not recommend theuse of antiperspirants.
Toxins absolutely are purged from the body through perspiration, so muchsothat the standard medical treatment for eliminating toxins from the bodyissweat. Patients are put on a doctor-supervised detox program of heavyexercise, saunas, and lots of water to sweat toxins out through theskin.But this is not the only reason I don't recommend antiperspirants. In myview, anything that interferes with the natural funcion of the body--beitto stop sweating, altering hormone cycles, or anything else--should notbedone. Nature knows best and when we try to change the natural order ofthings, problems arise.
The fatty tissue in breasts is an optimum place for the body to storetoxicchemicals of all kinds--considering the amount and number of toxicchemicals the average person is exposed to every day, I am not surprisedmany women have breast cancer. But I would not call antiperspirtants"theleading cause". Many other chemicals, such as pesticides, are moredangerous and in addition to chemical exposure, emotional and mentalfactors also play a role as causative factors in illness. So I would becautious about any statement that claims to be the leading cause ofanything.
What I said in Home Safe Home about antiperspirants is thataluminumchlorohydrate, the active ingredient that helps stop wetness, can causeinfections in the hair follicles of the armpit, and skin irritations canbesevere enough to require medical attention. There is also some concernasto whether the aluminum salts in antiperspirants might contribute to abuildup of aluminum in the body--aluminum from other sources has beenassociated with brain disorders-- and about the safety of using aluminuminan aerosol spray. Becasue aerosols produce airborne particles that arelikely to be inhaled, there is a good chance that bits of aluminum willenter the lungs and accumulate over time. Because the long-term healtheffects are unknown, aluminum-containing aerosol antiperspirants areonlyconditionally approved by the FDA for safety. I know of no researchconnecting aluminum exposure with cancer.
There are a number of natural deodorants sold in natural food stores andeven nowadays in drug stores. What I've found to work best to stop odor(and still leave the natural sweat) is baking soda--just plain bakingsoda.If it seems too abrasive to you, you can mix it with a little cornstarchorwhite clay. Also the popular "deodorant stones" are a safe alternative.
For more information on choosing nontoxic products, see Home Safe Home.
by Debra Lynn Dadd
Author, Home Safe Home
Please visit my website at http://www.dld123.comCopyright © Debra Lynn Dadd
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Written by: Debra Lynn Dadd.
To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com ."The queen of green" - New York Times
"The guru of nontoxic living" - KCBS-TV News
"One of the country's few authorities on natural and nontoxic consumer affairs"- Boston Globe
"The godmother of natural living" - New Age JournalDebra's work as a consumer advocate, author, and consultant has been a leadinginfluence on the natural products market-to consumers, marketers, andmanufacturers-for almost two decades. Many refer to her well-researched consumerguidebooks as their "bibles."
Back in 1980, when a "green" product was one the color of grass and "hazardouswaste" was something you found only in a factory, Debra was diagnosed with animmune system disorder commonly known now as "environmental illness" or"chemical sensitivity." Her widely varied symptoms were disabling, but she was toldthere was no cure-other than removing toxic chemicals from her home. As no bookson household toxics or nontoxic alternative products were then available, she set out towrite one, and in the process healed herself and countless others.
After self-publishing her first consumer manual for others with chemical sensitivities,the makers of nontoxic Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser sent her on a media tour topromote the concept of nontoxic cleaning products. By then it had become clear thatthe issue of chemicals in products was much larger than a few sensitive individuals; asshe researched toxic chemicals in products Debra found that many products containedchemicals that are harmful to the general public and that illness caused by thesehousehold toxics could be prevented. Nontoxic & Natural was published in 1984,followed by The Nontoxic Home in 1986. Both books not only alerted consumers totoxic dangers, but offered alternative products.
By 1987, Debra was living in a completely nontoxic home in an idyllic NorthernCalifornia forest. Having taken the idea of toxics within the home as far as it would go,she realized that our consumer choices also affected the larger environment as well asour own health. She began to research the environmental effects of consumer productsand in 1990 came out with Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, adding products that hadenvironmental benefits--such as being recycled, energy-efficient, biodegradable, ororganically-grown--to her lists of nontoxic and natural goods. In 1992, her other bookwas updated to The Nontoxic Home & Office.
As products with environmental claims flooded the market, Debra became concernedthat many of the products that made environmental claims were nothing more thangreen hype. Because there were no standards or guidelines for evaluating greenproducts, Debra set out to discover what it means to truly live in a way that isresponsible to the earth. Her book, Sustaining the Earth, called for sustainability to beused as the standard for evaluating consumer products, and told everything aconsumer needs to know to evaluate green products for themselves.
Debra's work came full circle in 1997 with the publication of Home Safe Home, anew, completely revised edition of her books on household toxics. With new scientificevidence showing the dangers of common household products to be even worse thanpreviously imagined, her work continues to be timely and valuable.
In addition to writing books, Debra published her own newsletter (1985-1991), andhas written occasional articles for Vegetarian Times, New Age Journal, Greenpeace,East West Journal (now Natural Health) and Self magazines as well as majornewspapers, including USA Weekend. She has written columns for Let's Live(1986-1990) and Environmental Action (1990-1991) magazines and is currently acolumnist for Natural Home magazine.
Debra is also a co-founder of WorldWise, Inc., a company that provides useful productsthat enhance sustainable living through mass market outlets. To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com .
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