The 12 Most Dangerous Cancer Causing Products in your home? Not quite.

As always, I saw this posted on social media, the ultimate source of spreading nonsense.  http://bestfolkmedicine.com/2018/06/caution-the-12-most-dangerous-cancer-causing-products-in-your-home-today/   The first tip off is the "best folk medicine" part.  I can already smell the biased bullshit.

Many of the claims are misleading and some are just outright wrong.  Most of what is claimed is given with no information about exposure amounts or risk levels.   Knowing the actual risk is important.
I'll go through some to access if there is any worry.

1.  Whole Milk
Claims are of antibiotics, DDT and other things.   First antibiotics are not allowed in Canada milk for human consumption so that is an outright lie.   DDT is not really used anymore except in an emergency situation, so is it not of a concern.  Heptachlor has been banned for most uses so it is not readily found in milk (although when it is found, it has caused a recall in the past.

2/3.   Ajax Cleaner and Zud Cleaner
Claims are of crystalline silica.   From the MSDS "This product contains a small amount of crystalline silica, a naturally occurring impurity in calcium carbonate. NTP has listed crystalline silica as an anticipated carcinogen. IARC has found limited evidence for carcinogenicity in humans. However, under normal conditions of product use, no significant health risk to humans is expected."   So there is nothing to worry about.

4.  Clairol Nice'n Easy
Claims are about propylene glycol, formaldehyde and more.  The amounts and exposure would be minimal and not of a big concern  See https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1120&tid=240  and  https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=219&tid=39  .

5.  Ortho Weed-B-Lawn Weed Killer
Claims are about  2,4 D.   According to the EPA it is not a carcinogen to humans https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(15)00081-9/fulltext  and according to IARC it is only possibly carcinogenic https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2015/pdfs/pr236_E.pdf

6.  Lysol Disinfectant spray
Claims are about Ortho-phenylphenol.   According to pubchem it doesn't seem to be a big problem as a carcinogen https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/2-Phenylphenol#section=NIOSH-Toxicity-Data
"Evaluation: There is inadequate evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of ortho-phenylphenol and sodium ortho-phenylphenate. Overall evaluation: ortho-Phenylphenol is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans (Group 3). Sodium ortho-phenylphenate is possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)."   and with this study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10839472 which states "suitable low doses of OPP/SOPP will practically pose no cancer risk."

7.  Beef Frankfurters
Claims are about DDT (see above), antibiotics (see above), and nitrites.  The quick of it is that any cancer risk is minimal as long as you are not eating hot dogs all day, every day, you should be fine.  Vitamin C is often added which reduces the amount of nitrites and thus the risk is very small according to Joe Schwarcz https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/controversial-science-food-health/hot-diggety-dog .  The risk is only in vitamin deficient children.

8.  Cover Girl
Claims are about items like parabens and talc (see below).  "But so far, studies have not shown any direct link between parabens and any health problems, including breast cancer."   https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/antiperspirants-and-breast-cancer-risk.html?_ga=2.190270511.542205158.1537721856-1513569738.1537721856

9.  Flea Collar
Claims about propoxur.  This one is actually valid (go figure lol).  But here in Canada it has been phasing out since 2014 so it shouldn't be of a concern.    https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/pesticides-pest-management/decisions-updates/reevaluation-decision/2014/document-propoxur-rvd2014-01.html

10. Talcum Powder
Claims about ovarian cancer.   Although recently given a lot of hype by the press the reality is a lot more boring and not as interesting for selling newspapers.     https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html   Any risk is small or non-existent.

11.  Crest Tartar control toothpaste
Claims about saccharin and fluoride.  Saccharine is not carcinogenic https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/artificial-sweeteners-fact-sheet  "Because the bladder tumors seen in rats are due to a mechanism not relevant to humans and because there is no clear evidence that saccharin causes cancer in humans, saccharin was delisted in 2000 from the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens."    With fluoride, it simply is not at a high enough dose to even warrant a concern if there was even a concern.  https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk.html  "The general consensus among the reviews done to date is that there is no strong evidence of a link between water fluoridation and cancer."

12.  Alberto VO5
Claims about fragrance, formaldehyde (see above), and polysorbate 80.   While polysorbate 80 does hold a bit of concern for those with Crohn's disease, it is considered safe and well tolerated in the doses one normally comes in contact with. I can't seem to find any real link to cancer   https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cpdb/chempages/POLYSORBATE%2080.html


So does Grandma know best?   In this case, clearly not.