Having been the subject of studies for several years now, the aluminum salts present in antiperspirants as well as in sunscreens are suspected of promoting breast cancer. In two new studies, Swiss and British researchers confirm the carcinogenic potential of aluminum salts for the human mammary gland.
Aluminum salts in antiperspirants suspected to be responsible for increasing breast cancer
In two new publications published in the scientific journal International Journal of Molecular Sciences, a group of researchers from the Fondation des Grangettes, the Center d’Onco-Hématologie d’Hirslanden Clinique des Grangettes, and the University of Oxford, confirms the carcinogenic nature of aluminum salts, present in antiperspirants, for the human mammary gland.
In previous laboratory studies, both on human cells and on mice, researchers had already demonstrated that mammary cells cultured in the presence of concentrations of aluminum become capable of forming very aggressive metastatic tumors. This time, they tried to understand the biochemical pathways or “mechanism of action” by which aluminum salts exert their carcinogenic effect on breast cells.
The metal enters cells and causes genomic instability
To reach their conclusion, the researchers exposed hamster cells (including mammary gland cells) to aluminum salts in vitro. They thus noticed that not only the cells assimilate the metal quickly but that in addition, within 24 hours which follow, a genomic instability appears in these cells. However, as the Fondation des Grangettes explains in its press release, “ genomic instability is an almost universal feature of human tumors and a necessary prerequisite for mammalian cells to embark on the path of malignant transformation “.
In addition, the research carried out shows that aluminum alters the DNA of cells by methods equivalent to those of recognized carcinogenic substances. The researchers thus demonstrate that aluminum salts draw a path similar to that already seen for proven carcinogenic agents such as tobacco or asbestos.
Convince health authorities to restrict the use of aluminum salts
According to the Fondation des Grangettes, these new results “ should finally convince health authorities to formally recognize the risk that chronic exposure to aluminum represents for human health, and to restrict its use by the cosmetics industry “. Until measures are taken, scientists recommend that users ban any cosmetic that contains the words ‘aluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum chlorydrex, aluminum sesquichlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium’.
