Green Cleaning, Should we stop using Cleaning Chemicals in our cleaning products House-proud Women who love to keep their homes clean could be at larger risk of breast cancer, someresearch suggests.
Could the use of green cleaning services remove this exposure?
Scientists found limportant links between the cancer and women's usage of air fresheners.
General use of cleaners tripled the risk of breast cancer in women who used them the most , experts discovered.
Among the different kinds of products, mould killers and air fresheners had the strongest impact.
Green cleaning alternatives should always contain no toxic chemicals in there ingrediant lista and are therefor are an ideal option for women worried about this connection.
Alternativly, insect replellents and pesticides had little to no impact on breast cancer risk.
Researchers conducted telephone interviews with 787 women aged 50 to 75 years old in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with breast cancer and 721 healthy women also in that age range.
The women were asked about their usage of cleaning products and pesticides, and split into 4 groups from between high and low users. These results were then compared.
Study leader Dr Julia Brody, Who works for the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts, said: "Women who have the largest cleaning product usage had an almost doubled risk of contracting breast cancer when compared to those with the lowest reported use.
"The usage of air fresheners and products for mould and mildew control were associated with increased risk. To our knowledge, this could well be the first report on the link between cleaning product use and risk of breast cancer."
Air freshening products were found to double cancer risk with women in the largest use group, as did monthly use of mould and mildew-removing chemicals.
Scientists state that if consumers were using green cleaning products then this could remove this risk altogether.
All air fresheners have ingredients that are suspected to trigger breast cancer in animals, said the researchers.
Some were also created with endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that could in theory affect the growth of oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells.
Not present in green cleaning products, Hormone-disruptors such as phthalates were often used in air fresheners, it was also discovered. Air fresheners could also contain chemicals called terpenes which react with the ozone in the air to form cancer triggers such as benzene it was concluded.
"Even though exposure levels can be perceived as low and EDCs are generally often less potent than endogenous hormones, the rather little knowledge of product formulations and exposure levels of chemical constituents alone and in combination make it very hard to assess risks associated with product use," the researchers wrote.
The scientists acknowledged that their results might be swayed by "recall bias" because they depended on answers to questions. As to whether green cleaning systems could remove this risk, the conclusion was a definative yes in favour of using less chemicals and more green cleaning products.
For example, women who blamed chemical pollutants for their breast cancer might be more probable to report high usage of cleaning products. Women who said they were using only green cleaning products were not tested in the report.
Dr Brody said it was possibily also true that women with cancer, who put a lot of thought about the likely cause of their disease, may be more prone to recall their use of cleaners accurately.
Such uncertainty could be altogther avoided by a "prospective" study that followed the fate of a study group over several years.
More information about
green cleaning alternatives can be found at websites such as www.puregreencleaning.com.au which offers up interesting and healthy common alternatives to cleaning with dangerious chemicals.
References and sources:
http://greg41pate.blog.com/2010/07/20/green-cleaning-are-you-at-risk-from-breast-cancer-from-your-cleaning-products/ http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978381305 green cleaning pages
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