Women who regularly powder their genitals with talc have a
one-third higher risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, scientists have
warned. A new study asked 2,041 women with ovarian cancer - and
2,100 free of the disease - about their talcum powder use. Those who routinely apply talc to their genitals, sanitary
napkins, tampons and underwear were found to have a 33 per cent higher risk of
ovarian cancer. The study comes a week after a St. Louis jury ordered
Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million in damages to the family of a woman
who allegedly died of the disease after using their baby powder. Lead study author Dr Daniel Cramer, of Brigham and Women's
Hospital in Boston, told Reuters that there must be warning labels on talcum
powder. He said: 'This is an easily modified risk factor. 'Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if
it's used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital
tract. 'And I think if they knew that, they wouldn't use it.'
Dr Cramer first linked genital talc to ovarian cancer in
1982.
However, the current study, published in the journal
Epidemiology, is the first to limit the association to premenopausal women and
postmenopausal women who used hormone therapy.
The new confines of the association may help explain earlier
contradictory results on the link between talc and ovarian cancer, researchers
said. Dr Cramer has testified as a paid expert in lawsuits against
talcum powder makers. Talc is a mineral that absorbs moisture, and is made of
magnesium, silicon and oxygen. It may contain asbestos - a known carcinogen - in its
natural form.
But, all commercial products in the US have been free of
asbestos in the US since the 1970s.
Almost 20,000 women in the US are diagnosed with ovarian
cancer each year - and almost 14,500 die from the disease annually, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The World Health Organization's International Agency for
Research on Cancer classified genital talc as possibly carcinogenic in 2006. Talc
is a good drying agent, but women should know that if it's used repeatedly, it
can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract.Dr
Daniel Cramer, of Brigham and Women's Hospital Yet, the CDC does not currently list talc as a risk factor
for ovarian cancer.
Dr Nicholas Wentzensen, of the National Cancer Institute,
who was not involved in the study, told Reuters that the new study strengthens
the evidence linking genital talc to ovarian cancer.
He said: 'The recent paper in Epidemiology has provided
additional support for an association between talc use and ovarian cancer from
a case-control study.'
Yet, Dr Wentzensen isn't fully convinced of the link. That's because he believes the study wasn't the most
rigorous. He noted that so-called prospective cohort studies would be
particularly strong because they would assess exposure at the start of an
investigation and follow participants over time to see if they developed the
disease. Dr Wentenzen said: 'Scientific consensus emerges over time,
especially in cases like this, where the results have been somewhat
inconsistent.
'While this recent analysis provides additional evidence
supporting an association of talc and ovarian cancer, it will be important to
test the methods used in this analysis in other data to see if the findings are
confirmed.'
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