Miranda Kerr's Decision
- When supermodel Miranda Kerr was 16, her mother was diagnosed with spleen cancer; this caused her family to start being more vigilant about their health.
- While examining their household and beauty products, Kerr’s family found that many items contained toxic chemicals. This inspired Kerr to create her own organic skincare line.
- It’s important to note that there’s no formal evidence that there are chemicals in household or beauty products that specifically “cause” cancer, but studies have shown that some chemicals can be linked to a higher risk of the disease.
According to Kerr, her mother Therese was diagnosed with spleen cancer when Kerr was just 16-years-old, and it inspired her and her family to start prioritizing their health more. As a result they started looking at all the items they used in their household, ranging from cleaning products to beauty products. By examining each item, it made them realize that many of the products they used contained heavy toxins.
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The Link Between Toxins & Cancer
It’s important to note that there’s no formal evidence that there are chemicals in household or beauty products that specifically “cause” cancer, but studies have shown that some chemicals can be linked to a higher risk of the disease. The National Cancer Institute estimates that anywhere from 4% to 19% of cancers are due to environmental exposures, such as air pollution or asbestos.
“It’s often difficult to study environmental causes of cancer,” Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon at Weill Cornell in New York, previously told SurvivorNet. “Much of it’s done in lab, in mice, trying to look and exposing mice to different toxins. But it really takes high level. It takes a high level.”
When it comes to beauty products, studies are still being done to conclude whether certain brands contain chemicals that are linked to increased cancer risk. One study, published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, looked at 231 products sold in the US and Canada and found that cancer-linked toxins were present in more than 80% of the brands examined.
"The concerning thing about cosmetics is that these are products that you're applying to your skin and face every day, so there's the skin absorption route that's of concern, but also incidental ingestion of cosmetics is also a concern as well," said co-author Dr. Tom Bruton, senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute.
Dr. Heather Yeo and actress Fran Drescher talk the link between toxins and cancer
But the bottom line is that we’re exposed to carcinogens, or substances that can cause cancer, throughout our daily lives. But many people will not go on to develop the disease.
"We create carcinogens all the time in our foods when we cook them, and very few of us get cancer because our bodies can handle them," explains Dr. Robert Wright, chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at Mount Sinai. "But some people have susceptibilities to these environmental carcinogens, which might be genetic or might be caused by combinations of carcinogens."
It's important to understand that no one trigger is going to definitively cause cancer, Dr. Wright said, but it could be a combination of triggers in the environment.
"Cancer isn't caused by one event, typically, it's usually a series or combination of events," he said. "So, it may be that you ate a lot of charred food, it may be that you're also a smoker, it may be that you've inherited a genetic susceptibility to be a little bit more sensitive to those chemicals."
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