The active ingredient in most commercial deodorants is Aluminum Chlorhydrate, the same form of aluminum added to municipal water supplies for water purification, where IMHO it is far more dangerous in the long term. Spraying a little in your armpits seems far less likely to be harmful than ingesting it by drinking it constantly.
Wikipedia wrote:
The variation most commonly used in deodorants and antiperspirants is Al2Cl(OH)5. There is no scientific evidence supporting widespread rumors that aluminium salts in deodorants can cause Alzheimer's disease or breast cancer. Amongst others, research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute[4] found no evidence whatsoever that these compounds increase the risk of breast cancer. However, aluminium is a neurotoxin that alters the function of the blood-brain barrier[5], and it is one of the few abundant elements that appears to have no beneficial function to living cells.
Aluminium, present most often in antiperspirants, but not usually present in non-antiperspirant deodorants, has been established as a neurotoxin in very high doses.[2][3][4][5] At high doses, aluminum itself adversely affects the blood-brain barrier, is capable of causing DNA damage, and has adverse epigenetic effects.[2][6] Research has shown that high doses of the aluminum salts used in antiperspirants have detrimental effects to a number of species such as non-human primates,[7] mice,[8] dogs[9] and others.[clarification needed] An increased amount of aluminum is also present in the brains of many Alzheimer's patients, although this link does not seem to be causal.[10][11][12]
Experiments with mice applying aqueous solution of aluminum chloride to the skin resulted in "a significant increase in urine, serum, and whole brain aluminum"[13] and transplacental passage.[8]
Rumors[14][15] surfaced on the Internet in the 1990s that antiperspirants have a link in causing breast cancer; these are now widely considered to be an urban myth.[16] According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS), these claims are largely unsubstantiated by scientific research.[17][18]
NCI considered two studies that address the breast cancer claims: A 2002 study of over 800 patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute that found no link between breast cancer and the use of antiperspirant/deodorant;[19] and a study of 437 cancer patients, published in 2003 by the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, which found a correlation between earlier diagnosis of breast cancer and antiperspirant/deodorant use.[20] The NCI's analysis of the second study said that it "does not demonstrate a conclusive link between these underarm hygiene habits and breast cancer. Additional research is needed to investigate this relationship and other factors that may be involved."[21]
One school of thought, advanced by the studies of researcher Dr. Phil Darbre, hypothesizes that particular substances in deodorants, such as preservatives called parabens, or bolts such as aluminum chloride used in antiperspirants, get into the bloodstream or accumulate in breast tissue, where they enhance or emulate the effects of estrogen, which stimulates the growth of cancerous breast cells.[22][23] The ACS and other scientists consider these studies to be early and inconclusive, but merit further research; Darbre also stated that her findings did not show causality. The main reservations have to do with the source and significance of the parabens or other toxic substances.[24] Michael Thun, MD, of the ACS argued that even if some of the substances in antiperspirants do promote tumor growth, the risk from cosmetic use appears minuscule compared with other known tumor promoters — from 500 to 10,000 times less potent than taking oral estrogen or being obese.[25]
The FDA warns "that people with renal dysfunction may not be aware that the daily use of antiperspirant drug products containing aluminum may put them at a higher risk because of exposure to aluminum in the product."[26] The agency warns people with renal dysfunction to consult a doctor before using antiperspirants containing aluminum.
All that paranoid stuff aside, Its been in use by billions now for a century with no plague of armpit cancer.
I can say from personal experience that the herbal deodorants do not work. George Carlin used to joke that you could put a bay leaf under each arm and you'd smell like soup. Of course he didn't say it would be good soup.
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"Strange, inaccessible worlds exist at our very elbows"
- Howard Phillips Lovecraft
30 Jan 2010, 8:23 pm
