Houseproud women who use certain cleaning products often are at a great risk of breast cancer, according to new research. Significant links were found between the disease of women’s use of mould removers, air fresheners and cleaning products.
With the women who used these products most, the risk of breast cancer is doubled, say scientists. Mould and mildew removers and air fresheners posed the highest risks according to the research. However, insect repellent, mothballs and pesticides were found to have little effect on cancer.
Around 787 women between the ages of 60 and 80 from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, were interviewed over the phone by US researchers. All the women had breast cancer and another 721 without the disease were also spoken to about their use of cleaning products.
The women were then split into four groups depending on how often they used cleaning products and pesticides and cancer rates for the different groups were compared. The women in the high usage group were found to have double the risk of cancer than those in the low usage group.
The study is thought to be the first looking at the link between breast cancer and cleaning products. The findings were published on Tuesday in the online Environmental Health journal.
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