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Hosted by The Organic Pharmacy, London, 8th October 2008
This month I was delighted to host our second event on breast cancer. Last year we discussed the relevance of toxin in our environment and the role they play in contributing to breast cancer. This year the focus was specifically parabens and other oestrogenic compounds and their contribution to breast cancer. There have been many misconceptions in the beauty industry and we wanted to clarify these by inviting experts in these fields to discuss their relevance.
Our first speaker Helen Lynn (Wilcard Research and Communications), opened the event with the statement “It’s not that all cosmetics are bad, we just want to use safe ones for our families”.
Helen went on to discuss one of the myths commonly used when discussing parabens. It’s found in nature so it is safe. The fact is, many natural ingredients found in nature are poisonous and unsafe – things such as arsenic and asbestos being two typical ones. A paraben found in nature will still be oestrogenic and therefore disrupt the hormonal system.Dr Philippa D’Abre (Senior Lecturer of Oncology at University of Reading), our second speaker discussed oestrogen and its role in the development of breast cancer. She discussed the various possible ways in which oestrogenic compounds can enter our bodies:
1)Edible plant material
2)Pharmaceutical oestrogens (contraceptive pill, HRT)
3)Pollutant chemicals (in diet, household exposure, cosmetic products)
She demonstrated that since Oestrogen is known to influence the development and treatment of breast cancer could oestrogenic chemicals of cosmetics influence breast cancer development? And do cosmetics provide a special scenario of continuous exposure for the human breast
• Thousands of publications have supported the fact that over exposure to oestrogen does influence breast cancer – scientific literature and chemical data.
• For example ‐ Endocrine therapy is a successful treatment of breast cancer. If oestrogen wasn’t a factor, this form of therapy would not be effective.
Philippa went on to show through numerous studies carried out throughout the world, parabens and other oestrogenic compounds found in cosmetics, when applied to the skin are readily absorbed through the skin, get into the blood stream and metabolised putting an end to the myth that nothing is absorbed through the skin. Paraben are known to enter the breast tissue; all parabens have oestrogenic property, over exposure to oestrogen plays role in breast cancer.
Our third speaker Elizabeth Salter Green (Director of CHEM Trust), talked about our exposure to 2 particular classes of chemicals: the hormone disruptors and chemicals that persist and bio accumulate.
“These 2 classes of chemicals pose the greatest threat to us now and to future generations, as they can be passed from mother to baby via the placenta and breast milk and it is the foetus in utero that is least able to protect itself but is most vulnerable to these exposures. “
She went on to explain what hormones are: “So what is an endocrine (hormone) disrupting chemical? The word endocrine and hormone mean the same thing. Your hormones are amazing things – they work at minute levels in our bodies and they are vital to our existence controlling out reproduction, behaviour, immune systems and neurological development. They are also very vulnerable to disruption, because they work at such low levels –leading to negative health impacts.
It is now known that certain, nasty, man‐made chemicals – mostly industrial chemicals and pesticides – can mimic natural hormones and can undermine our health – many are in consumer products, such as toiletries, cosmetics and food. “
She went on to explain what you as a consumer could do to become less toxic. For full details please refer to Elizabeth’s detailed book ‘The Toxic Consumer: How to Reduce Your Exposure to Everyday Toxic Chemicals’ Available at Amazon.
Our final speaker Claire Dimmer (Chair of No More Breast Cancer), the only charity that recognises environmental pollutants and their link to breast cancer, discussed the massive differences between blood serum oestradiol in British and Chinese women.
1990 study discovers raised levels of Oestrogen. Blood‐serum concentrations of hormones linked to breast cancer were compared between women in rural China and in Britain.
Oestradiol levels were higher in British women by:
36% ‐ aged 35‐44
90% ‐ aged 45‐54
171% ‐ aged 55‐64
Breast Cancer UK believes that Breast Cancer is a preventable disease and we should not wait until diagnosis to make that change.
Here is what they recommend you do as a consumer:
As consumers: buy organic food, toxin‐free toiletries and cosmetics, greener baby‐care products; avoid plastics and pesticides; and opt for more natural products and furnishings at home.
As citizens: lobby supermarkets, retailers, politicians, and industry, urging them to acknowledge and to act upon the scientific information that is already available on the links between environmental pollution and toxic chemicals in our everyday products and breast cancer. “
I’d like to finish with the final myth that there are no alternatives to parabens as preservatives in cosmetics and that if you do not use parabens you are endangering the lives of the consumer buy producing highly dangerous cosmetics that grow bacteria moulds etc. In fact there are many highly effective preservatives that are not endocrine (hormone) disruptors and at The Organic Pharmacy we go one step further and use preservatives that are 100% natural. Our products go through rigorous tests to ensure mould and bacteria do not grow in them and only the after the safety tests have been conducted are they made available for sale. There are no excuses to use parabens!
Margo Marrone
Co‐founder and Director of The Organic Pharmacy
Please visit the ‘factsheet’ section of our website for the transcripts from this event and more information to download on the subject. http://www.theorganicpharmacy.com/about_conditions.php
www.chemtrust.org.uk <http://www.chemtrust.org.uk>
www.wen.org.uk <http://www.wen.org.uk >
www.safecosmetics.org <http://www.safecosmetics.org>
www.wecf.org <http://www.wecf.org>
<http://www.breastcanceruk.org/register.html>
