Household Cleaners May Cause Breast Cancer

Cleaning house may be a risky venture.  A study published in Environmental Health found that women who used the most household cleaning products had double the rate of breast cancer as those who used the fewer cleaners.

Researchers conducted telephone interviews with 787 Massachusetts breast cancer patients aged 60 to 80, and compared them to 721 women who did not have breast cancer.  The study found that women who reported the highest use of cleaning products had double the risk of developing breast cancer when compared to those with the lowest reported use.  Specifically, air fresheners and mold/mildew cleaning products were associated with the highest risk.

Some household cleaners contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that some allege affects the growth of breast cells, terpenes which react with ozone to form cancer triggers such as formaldehyde, benzene and styrene.

The scientists realize that since the interviews were about past activities that there is room for error in their results, however, they called for more extensive research into the causal link between household cleaners and breast cancer.