Pioneering consumer advocate Debra Lynn Dadd -- author of Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, The Nontoxic Home & Office, and Home Safe Home -- gives advice for choosing products that are better for your health and the environment. She discloses health and environmental effects of common products, 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't know 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 cancer because they prevent you from releasing toxins through perspiration, and then these toxins are stored in the lymph nodes and cause breast cancer (see http://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 is antiperspirant.
I do agree that "Anti-perspirant, as the name clearly indicates, prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purging toxins from below the armpits." and because of this do not recommend the use of antiperspirants.
Toxins absolutely are purged from the body through perspiration, so much so that the standard medical treatment for eliminating toxins from the body is sweat. Patients are put on a doctor-supervised detox program of heavy exercise, saunas, and lots of water to sweat toxins out through the skin. But this is not the only reason I don't recommend antiperspirants. In my view, anything that interferes with the natural funcion of the body--be it to stop sweating, altering hormone cycles, or anything else--should not be done. Nature knows best and when we try to change the natural order of things, problems arise.
The fatty tissue in breasts is an optimum place for the body to store toxic chemicals of all kinds--considering the amount and number of toxic chemicals the average person is exposed to every day, I am not surprised many women have breast cancer. But I would not call antiperspirtants "the leading cause". Many other chemicals, such as pesticides, are more dangerous and in addition to chemical exposure, emotional and mental factors also play a role as causative factors in illness. So I would be cautious about any statement that claims to be the leading cause of anything.
What I said in Home Safe Home about antiperspirants is that aluminum chlorohydrate, the active ingredient that helps stop wetness, can cause infections in the hair follicles of the armpit, and skin irritations can be severe enough to require medical attention. There is also some concern as to whether the aluminum salts in antiperspirants might contribute to a buildup of aluminum in the body--aluminum from other sources has been associated with brain disorders-- and about the safety of using aluminum in an aerosol spray. Becasue aerosols produce airborne particles that are likely to be inhaled, there is a good chance that bits of aluminum will enter the lungs and accumulate over time. Because the long-term health effects are unknown, aluminum-containing aerosol antiperspirants are only conditionally approved by the FDA for safety. I know of no research connecting aluminum exposure with cancer.
There are a number of natural deodorants sold in natural food stores and even 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 baking soda. If it seems too abrasive to you, you can mix it with a little cornstarch or white 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 1999
PAST COLUMNS:
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 leading influence on the natural products market-to consumers, marketers, and manufacturers-for almost two decades. Many refer to her well-researched consumer guidebooks as their "bibles."
Back in 1980, when a "green" product was one the color of grass and "hazardous waste" was something you found only in a factory, Debra was diagnosed with an immune system disorder commonly known now as "environmental illness" or "chemical sensitivity." Her widely varied symptoms were disabling, but she was told there was no cure-other than removing toxic chemicals from her home. As no books on household toxics or nontoxic alternative products were then available, she set out to write 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 to promote the concept of nontoxic cleaning products. By then it had become clear that the issue of chemicals in products was much larger than a few sensitive individuals; as she researched toxic chemicals in products Debra found that many products contained chemicals that are harmful to the general public and that illness caused by these household toxics could be prevented. Nontoxic & Natural was published in 1984, followed by The Nontoxic Home in 1986. Both books not only alerted consumers to toxic dangers, but offered alternative products.
By 1987, Debra was living in a completely nontoxic home in an idyllic Northern California 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 as our own health. She began to research the environmental effects of consumer products and in 1990 came out with Nontoxic, Natural & Earthwise, adding products that had environmental benefits--such as being recycled, energy-efficient, biodegradable, or organically-grown--to her lists of nontoxic and natural goods. In 1992, her other book was updated to The Nontoxic Home & Office.
As products with environmental claims flooded the market, Debra became concerned that many of the products that made environmental claims were nothing more than green hype. Because there were no standards or guidelines for evaluating green products, Debra set out to discover what it means to truly live in a way that is responsible to the earth. Her book, Sustaining the Earth, called for sustainability to be used as the standard for evaluating consumer products, and told everything a consumer needs to know to evaluate green products for themselves.
Debra's work came full circle in 1997 with the publication of Home Safe Home, a new, completely revised edition of her books on household toxics. With new scientific evidence showing the dangers of common household products to be even worse than previously imagined, her work continues to be timely and valuable.
In addition to writing books, Debra published her own newsletter (1985-1991), and has written occasional articles for Vegetarian Times, New Age Journal, Greenpeace, East West Journal (now Natural Health) and Self magazines as well as major newspapers, including USA Weekend. She has written columns for Let's Live (1986-1990) and Environmental Action (1990-1991) magazines and is currently a columnist for Natural Home magazine.
Debra is also a co-founder of WorldWise, Inc., a company that provides useful products that enhance sustainable living through mass market outlets. To contact Debra, e-mail debra@dld123.com .
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