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FEdition of the Edition of the Mineral, which is added to some makeup, medicines and foods that many people have never thought about: talc.
In the latest approach article titled “New FDA Priorities” published in the Medical Journal JamaCommissioner for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dr. Martin Makary and FDA Chief Medical and Research Officer dr. Vinay Prasad wrote that the FDA had performed a group of TALC experts in May. They also noted that some companies removed the help of baby powder because it was a carcinogen. For example, Johnson and Johnson 2023 More than 60,000 legal claims from patients with ovarian cancer stopped using TALC.
Jama The article added that talc remains common because people still “regularly swallow” it as an ingredient of various medicines and foods.
Despite claims, research has not confirmed whether talc is caused by cancer, especially when consumed through food. Meanwhile, companies continue to use Talc powder and cosmetics.
This is how people face talc, potential health risk and what to do with them.
Talc and asbestos
Naturally -resulting mineral, talc consists of several elements such as magnesium and silicon. Located in small particles, talc becomes talcus powder that helps absorb moisture and soothe the skin. People have used cosmetics and powders with talc for more than a century.
Before the company is excavated from the deep land, it mixes with another mineral asbestos. This is often caused by talc contamination with asbestos, which has been proven to cause cancer.
The talc that is attached to the asbestos is a carcinogen, especially when inspired. The potential that causes Talc cancer when it is not contaminated is less clear. Theoretically, talc itself can cause cancer because its particles cause inflammation by inhalation or migration of the body after the talc is applied to the skin, says Joell Schildraut, a professor at Emory University, Emory University.
“Inflammation can promote cancer,” says Schildkraut. “Many studies have shown the Association.” Some studies show that asbestos talc causes animal tumors, but animals are little revealing to people about ovarian cancer, says Schildraut.
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Nevertheless, it is impossible for consumers to find out if contaminated products with TALC. Since 1970 Companies have voluntarily tested, but the methods are not sensitive enough to detect their products asbestos-and FDA does not require evidence that they are without asbestos. “This means that a lot of contaminated talc is likely to survive without finding asbestos,” says Schildkraut.
With better tests, the researchers checked if cosmetics were an asbestos nut. Since 1948 Until 2017 Two -thirds of these tests (performed as part of the litigation) were positive asbestos, usually in small quantities. 2020 A non -profit environmental working group found that the asbestos contaminated 15% of the makeup samples with talc.
2023 FDA found non -asbestos of 50 Talking cosmetics. (The agency did not respond to the Time request to comment.) But the conclusions cannot be made of these checks because they covered small sizes of sample, says Kaley Beins, a senior scientist of the Environmental Working Group.
It is expected that later this year the FDA will be able to complete a new rule aimed at improving corporate testing methods.
The risk of ovarian cancer
Some data indicate relationships between ovarian cancer and a specific type of talc exhibition: the use of baby powder in intimate personal hygiene sites. However, the conclusions were uneven.
June In a letter to Makary, several TALC researchers – some with communications with companies manufacturing products with TALC, criticized the latest FDA Round Table discussion on Talc’s health effects. The authors wrote a roundtable discussion because they “included several paid parties of the plaintiff in the LAP -related litigation cases” without any defense experts.
The letter states that studies involving several different groups of women have found only a very weak association with ovarian cancer. Schildkraut – Expert in May A round table participant without any connection with claims – not that some of these studies involved relatively few women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It is possible that there was simply not enough data to get stronger evidence.
However, in 2020 Scientists have combined the data of the groups previously investigated and still have not found a significant connection.
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An important factor is that “people may not be able to report their personal use of talc,” says Katie O’Brien, a scientist at the National Institute for Environmental Health Studies and the main 2020. The author of the study. In the next study of last year, she tried to correct reporting errors while re -reanized more than 50,000 women and found that frequent Talc powder users had a higher risk of ovarian cancer.
“This type of research does not establish a causal link,” says Schildkraut, who emphasized the same point at the public round table. “But we see a consistent relationship.”
The problem of self -analysis marked by O’Brien can be used for powder use in infants. “People may not know if baby powder was used,” explains O’Brien.
Meanwhile, some laboratory studies show that human ovarian cancer cells affecting talc have more inflammation and cell growth, mechanisms that can promote cancer.
Read more: Inflammation can be the culprit of our mortal diseases
However, Jennifer Permuth, an epidemiologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center, who served as a J&J expert and signed a letter to Makary, asks how talc migrates from where it is used to cause cancer in the ovaries – without causing cancer in other organs, such as the cervix.
“We hope that cancer is also developing in those other organs,” says Permuth.
2024. In the review, the World Health Organization found that evidence in general does not prove that talc causes cancer, but it is “probably carcinogenic”. The review was given ovarian cancer “because there was the most evidence” compared to other crayfish, says Schildraut, who served in the Review Committee. Meanwhile, the American Cancer Society says that if the risk of cancer increases, it will “probably be very low.”
The EU prescribed Talc as a carcinogen, and is expected that 2027 He would ban the help of cosmetics.
Other potential health problems
There are less research on other health problems related to HAPK. Some studies show that when miner inspirations are inspired, even if it does not have asbestos, their risk of lung cancer increases, but evidence of baby powder inhalation is more limited.
In addition, fatal cancer, called mesothelioma, is closely linked to asbestos exposure, although talc talc is less clear (partly because mesothelioma is very rare).
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Karen Selby, asbestos.com Mesothelioma Center Supporter-Adam, doctors and lawyers supporting mesothelioma, teams with patients who have been developed for decades after early life on cosmetics, she says. As a child of every Christmas, Selby received a new box of cosmetic powder to play with. She would cover herself and behave like Casper the Friendly Ghost. She has no mesothelioma, but remembering the talc dust haze, she sometimes thinks, “The Holy Cow, what do I do for myself?”
These makeup kits often have cheaper ingredients, such as asbestos contaminated talc, despite “children are sensitive to environmental health group,” says Beins, a scientist of the environmental working group. “I try to get the talc away from them.”
Safety measures
Researchers continue to investigate talc, and beins recommend using talc replacements such as corn starch. (Here’s what J&J now uses instead of talc.) “We can admit uncertainty and use safer alternatives,” says Beins.
The Environmental Working Group has a database called Skin Deep, which follows in which cosmetics contain ingredients like talc. Currently, the database provides about 150,000 products and 8,000 TALC, Beins.
“I would not personally use talc,” says Schildkraut. “There is no need to take risks because you do not need a lot of asbestos to develop cancer.”
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If possible, try to transfer baby powder in general. Even if they lack talc, “there may be other chemicals of concern”, such as perfume or texture, O’Brien note.
If you have been exposed to talc for decades – whether using personal products or professions that often include talc, as well as hair care services, this information is with doctors. They may recommend checking ovarian cancer and other conditions, says O’Brien.
And food and medication?
Talc is usually added to several foods such as chewing gum and candy so that they do not intervene in wraps and together. However, relatively few foods have talc. “Sometimes he is and is, but there is not much food,” says Beins. You can look for EWG food scores that follow the ingredients in the foods. Of the 80,000 products in the database, only 39 are currently listed in talc.
In addition, the Environmental Working Group program approves brands that meet its strictest health standards. To be certified, brands must disclose their ingredients, provide test data and avoid concern for ingredients. Products with TALC cannot be certified.
Read more: Why food chemicals are a problem and how to reduce your effect
The talc is also added to some tablets as it helps to smoothly travel through the production equipment during production. However, very little is known about the risk of cancer from TALC in both food and tablets. “Some thought that gastrointestinal problems could be caused by food exposure because it is an anti-inflammatory,” says Beins. However, this effect is currently theoretical.
“For public health reasons, we should not cause false alarms and make people fear their food and medicine,” says Permuth, who is studying gastrointestinal cancer.
“Common risks are frequent users of personal care or cosmetics based on TALC,” says O’Brien, adding that there is no medical reason to use these products. Although other environmental risk, such as air pollution, may be difficult to avoid, O’Brien notes that, for the most part, “the use of talc products is something that individuals can control”.
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