In today’s society of information overload we are often presented with information that may appear alarming, controversial, and terrifying.
Rumours and myths abound and they are usually designed to penetrate right into the heart of our deepest base fears.
I have often been asked why people create and spread rumours – especially on the internet – and what purpose they might possibly have. The answer is not at all simple. People can create rumours based on their own ignorance about a certain topic. They may perhaps have heard some part of a conversation out of context and assumed certain things to be truth and fact and then decided to spread this “revealing and shocking information” out of a sense of civic responsibility. Their actions, though misguided and misinformed, were nevertheless born from good intentions.
Others – those who have no such good intentions – find a perverse sense of pleasure in creating and distributing false information, merely to see how many people will fall victim to believing and redistributing it. Often these “paths of gullibility” are testing grounds for individuals who have much more sinister intentions, such as using a false rumour as a dry-run to ascertain how many people can be influenced and involved should the person decide to commit some form of cyber crime.
And in the same vein of thought, there are plenty of Breast Cancer Rumours. Here we will look at three of the most popular ones and the truth, if it exists, behind them.
Antiperspirants Cause Breast Cancer
For some time, an email rumour suggested that underarm antiperspirants cause breast cancer. Among its claims:
Cancer-causing substances in antiperspirants are absorbed through razor nicks from underarm shaving. These substances are said to be deposited in the lymph nodes under the arm, which are not able to get rid of them by sweating because the antiperspirant keeps you from perspiring. This causes a high concentration of toxins, which leads to cells mutating into cancer.
Men have a lower risk of breast cancer because they do not shave their underarms, and their underarm hair keeps chemicals in antiperspirants from being absorbed.
All of these claims are largely untrue. For a full explanation and the studies and researches done on this subject, you can go read up on the facts here.
Opinion: It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find antiperspirants that do not contain aluminium. If you do they are often much more expensive than the regular aluminium-containing brands you find on the shelves. Now, while I am of the personal opinion that long-term exposure to any kind of metal is usually not a good thing to our overall health, especially when it is applied on the skin itself and thus probably directly absorbed in a significant quantity, we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place; that is, either smell bad to those around you or fork out the excess amount for metal-free natural products.
Bras Cause Breast Cancer
This email rumour states that wearing a bra for the whole day (or +12 hours) compresses the lymphatic system of the breast, resulting in accumulation of toxins that cause breast cancer. Underwire bras are particularly bad as they constrict more than non-underwire bras.
There are no scientifically valid studies that show wearing bras of any type causes breast cancer. The email appears to be based on the writings of a husband and wife team of medical anthropologists who link breast cancer to wearing a bra. The two anthropologists suggested this association in a book called Dressed to Kill. Their study was not conducted according to standard principles of epidemiological research and did not take into consideration other variables, including known risk factors for breast cancer.
More studies and research findings on this topic can be found here.
Opinion: The website’s findings concentrate specifically on “scientifically valid” studies. So while studies on this subject have been performed, they are not recognised and nobody else seems to have had the idea to conduct an official, recognised research study to settle the matter once and for all. Conspiracy theorists blame this lack of action on the powerful influence of the fashion and garment industry, but it really is still largely unresolved matter. It doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable assumption that tight-fitting bras can cause a certain amount of circulation problems. How often have women complained of too-tight underwear that constrict or chafe and causes angry red pressure marks on their skin or rashes? Various versions of this myth refer to the wearing of a bra for more than 12 hours a day and even sleeping with one. To that my opinion is that sleeping with tight clothes of any type is not healthy and I am the type of person who changes into more comfortable, loose-fitting house-wear the moment I get home anyway. So it seems that presently this statement is neither proven nor disproven – you will have to make up your own mind about what you believe, but if all else fails, listen to your body: if it hurts you, it’s not good for you.
Lipstick Contains Lead Which Causes Cancer
In May 2003, an email began making the rounds claiming that many of the most popular lipsticks on the market contain lead and will cause cancer. The email then offers a way to test lipsticks to see if they have lead.
A search of the US Food and Drug Administration website finds that lead content of colouring agents used in lipstick is regulated by that agency, and that the levels permitted are not a health problem.
Opinion: The above is the only information provided on this topic and no accompanying test results or chemical component breakdowns are included or even referred to so, once again, it will be best to find the relevant data and inform yourself properly on the topic. If all else fails, ask to see the list of ingredients from the manufacturer directly.
source text taken from: http://www.cancer.org/aboutus/howwehelpyou/rumors-myths-and-truths
