Are antiperspirants safe to use?
Antiperspirants have been used for more than fifty years and the overwhelming weight of evidence indicates that they are safe to use.

Some women were told not to use antiperspirants because of the risk of developing breast cancer and even though many considerable institutions like the National Cancer Institute, the American Food & Drug Administration… refuted those statements, unfortunately many doctors and pharmacists today still spread those fear making rumours.

 

"The rise of the Internet has made it easy for false health claims, scary stories, and rumors to reach millions of people in a matter of minutes. One such myth says that antiperspirants may cause breast cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the breast cancer-antiperspirant myth first appeared in the form of an e-mail in the 1990s, and continues to resurface and recirculate about every year or so.

The false information suggests that antiperspirants contain harmful substances, which can be absorbed through the skin or can enter the body near the breasts through nicks in the skin caused by shaving. The e-mails also suggested that antiperspirants keep a person from "sweating out toxins," resulting in the spread of cancer-causing toxins via the lymph nodes.

But the NCI says that no existing scientific or medical evidence links the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants to the subsequent development of breast cancer. The FDA, the Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association agree. Razor nicks may increase the risk of skin infection, but not cancer." (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/405_sweat.html#antiperspirants)

Read more:
Journal of the National Cancer Institue
Antiperspirantsinfo

  • Now we know that antiperspirants don’t cause breast cancer, but what about the toxins that stay in the body if you don’t sweat them out? Don’t they usually all come out in the arm pits?
Sweating has nothing to do with flushing out toxins

Among other cancer-related beliefs is the theory that the body sweats to flush out toxins and using antiperspirants to reduce underarm perspiration will cause the toxins to build up and lead to breast cancer. However, the human body uses sweat as a temperature regulation mechanism that has nothing to do with flushing out toxins. As experts have pointed out sweat contains water (vast amounts) some sodium and some fat. That’s it. In fact the liver and kidneys remove nearly all the toxins in our bodies.

Besides, antiperspirants do not really affect the body’s overall sweat production capacity only the localized production of underarm perspiration. To top it all the underarm sweat glands produce only about one per cent of the body’s sweat but it affects us more because the sweat can’t evaporate as easily from the underarm as it does from more exposed body surfaces.

  • But why do so many people think then that antiperspirants are so dangerous if all those big institutions and companies spend considerable amounts of money to prove that they are in fact safe to use?
Unfortunately the internet is not only used to spread the truth about things and many people use it to their own advantage and spread lies or myths. And unfortunately people tend to believe things they read too easily without researching on their own to make their own opinion. Also, companies who sell mineral stones and natural antiperspirants were happy about this because people started using their products. By spreading this rumour further they created a bigger need for their natural products.