Alternative medicine (1)
- Alternative cancer treatments: 11 alternative treatments worth a try
Coping and support (8)
- Cancer survivors: Care for your body after treatment
- Cancer survivors: Reconnecting with loved ones after treatment
- Cancer survivors: Managing late effects of cancer treatment
- see all in Coping and support
Risk factors (1)
- Secondhand smoke: Avoid dangers in the air you breathe
Tests and diagnosis (8)
- Cancer survival rate: What it means for your prognosis
- Biopsy: Types of biopsy procedures used to diagnose cancer
- Cancer blood tests: Lab tests used in cancer diagnosis
- see all in Tests and diagnosis
Treatments and drugs (21)
- Low blood cell counts: Side effect of cancer treatment
- Cancer treatment for women: Possible sexual side effects
- Cancer treatment myths: Any truth to these common beliefs?
- see all in Treatments and drugs
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Cancer causes: Popular myths about the causes of cancer
Misconceptions about cancer causes can lead to unnecessary worry about your health. Find out whether there's any truth to these common myths about the causes of cancer.
By Mayo Clinic staff
Scary claims circulate on the Internet that everyday objects and products, such as plastic and deodorant, are secret cancer causes. Beyond being wrong, many of these myths may cause you to worry unnecessarily about your own health and the health of your family.
Before you panic, take a look at the facts. Here, Timothy Moynihan, M.D., a cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., takes a closer look at some popular myths about cancer causes and explains why they just aren't true.
Myth: Antiperspirants or deodorants can cause breast cancer.
Fact: There's no conclusive evidence linking the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Some reports have suggested that these products contain harmful substances such as aluminum compounds and parabens that can be absorbed through the skin or enter the body through nicks caused by shaving. No clinical studies have yet given a definitive answer to the question of whether these products cause breast cancer. But the evidence to date suggests these products don't cause cancer.
If you're still concerned that your underarm antiperspirant or deodorant could increase your risk of cancer, choose products that don't contain chemicals that worry you.
Myth: Microwaving plastic containers and wraps releases harmful, cancer-causing substances into food.
Fact: Microwave-safe plastic containers and wraps don't leak chemicals into your food.
But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says plastic containers not intended for use in the microwave could melt and potentially leak chemicals into your food. So avoid microwaving containers that were never intended for the microwave, such as margarine tubs or whipped topping containers.
Check to see that any container you use in the microwave is labeled as microwave-safe.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Antiperspirants/deodorants and breast cancer: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo. Accessed March 19, 2009.
- Microwave ovens: What you need to know before you get cooking. FDA & You. http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/fdaandyou/issue15.html#2. Accessed March 23, 2009.
- Cancer myths. Cancer.Net. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Library/Cancer.Net+Features/Cancer+Myths. Accessed March 19, 2009.
