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Ovarian Cancer – Study Finds Talcum Powder Link

Apr 17, 2009 by TacticularCancer.com

Every day, besides our food, we use dozens of different cosmetics, powders, lotions, pastes, soaps, shampoos, etc on our bodies. Yet many of us are not aware, or simply cannot be bothered, of the fact that there are hundreds, even thousands of harmful chemicals in these daily products.

Most of these chemicals have not even been tested for safety of use on humans. And, generally speaking, our bodies are “organic”, and do not like chemicals and substances which are synthetic, artificial or man-made; our bodies are just not adapted to properly dealing with such compounds.

Frequent Use of Talcum Powder Near Private Parts May Cause Ovarian Cancer

by Reuben Chow

According to a latest study conducted at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, women who used talcum powder around their private parts daily have a 40% higher risk of getting ovarian cancer. Even those who only used it once a week experienced a 36% higher risk. Although concerns over the use of talc had previously already been surfaced through other studies, these latest figures obtained suggest that the risks are much higher than thought before.

Details of Study

For this Harvard study, researchers looked at data from two previous studies, the New England Case-Control Study (NECC) and the Nurses Health Study (NHS), to try and locate a link between the use of talcum powder on the genitals and the risk of contracting ovarian cancer. They also tried to see how certain genetic factors might affect this risk.

All in all, the cases of over 3,000 women were studied, with 1,385 of them having had ovarian cancer and another 1,802 women not having contracted the disease. Both the previous studies had collated information on talc use by the women, including how frequently they used it and on which areas of the body.

The study was led by Dr Margaret A. Gates and funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Findings of the Study

The key finding of the Harvard study was the significantly higher risk – 1.4 times – of getting ovarian cancer for those who used talc daily. Correlation was also noted between more regular usage of talc with the development of serious and invasive cancer. Note that the findings of this study relate only to the use of talcum powder near the genitals, and do not apply to use on the rest of the body.

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