Household Cleaning Products Could Double Breast Cancer Risk [Study]
The market for household cleaning products is worth several billion dollars in the United States. Many stores contain aisle after aisle of hundreds of cleaning products, many of industrial strength, strong enough to clean a facility like a hospital. Bacteria can pose a health risk, but what about the health risks of chemicals in household cleaning products?
Women who use household cleaning products frequently may be doubling their risk of developing breast cancer, compared to women who use these products infrequently or not at all, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Health. In the study, cleaners that control mold and mildew as well as air fresheners had the strongest association with increased risk for breast cancer.
The study involved about 1,500 women. About half had breast cancer, and about half did not. The study participants shared information about lifestyle, including product use, pesticide consumption, and other possible risk factors. The study authors say the study is not perfect, but note that household cleaning and pesticide products may contribute to breast cancer because many contain endocrine disrupting chemicals or mammary gland carcinogens.
“Results of this study suggest that cleaning product use contributes to increased breast cancer risk. However, results also highlight the difficulty of distinguishing in retrospective self-report studies between valid associations and the influence of recall bias. Recall bias may influence higher odds ratios for product use among participants who believed that chemicals and pollutants contribute to breast cancer. Alternatively, the influence of experience on beliefs is another explanation, illustrated by the protective odds ratio for family history among women who do not believe heredity contributes “a lot.” Because exposure to chemicals from household cleaning products is a biologically plausible cause of breast cancer and avoidable, associations reported here should be further examined prospectively,”
write the study authors.
The study is considered one of the first of its kind, and doesn’t necessarily 100 percent prove that all household cleaners are hazardous. Doctors urge caution with these products, but say more research will be needed to further determine risk.
Increased public concern and scientific scrutiny is leading to further questions about whether the chemical and household cleaning industries have gone too far, containing far too many chemicals. Could people, many of whom are on minimum wage or unemployed in the Great Recession, be cleaning too much, spending far too much money on these products? Are these cleaning products really necessary to keep a clean house? Are they safe?
The American Cleaning Institute, an industry group, is refuting the study, saying it goes too far in its conclusions, and may not be scientifically sound.
“Simply put, this research is rife with innuendo and speculation about the safety of cleaning products and their ingredients. This is all based on the most cursory look at the scientific literature and the recollection of breast cancer survivors as to the products they used 15 to 20 years ago. Although the authors recognize the potential bias in their results, present conflicting findings, and have no real gauge as to the products used by the interviewees so long ago, they proceed to make unscientific assumptions on a very shaky foundation. Unfortunately, this work sheds little light on the real causes of breast cancer,”
Richard Sedlak, ACI’s Senior Vice President of Technical and International Affairs, said in a statement on the group’s website.
