For some years now, reference has been made to talcum powder, which is suspected of being carcinogenic due to the natural presence of asbestos. A new clinical case involving 33 patients confirms this fear. Exposure to this powder can cause mesothelioma, a rare cancer of mesothelial surfaces.
Exposure to talcum powder can cause mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive malignant tumor that affects the protective membrane that covers most of the body’s internal organs, including the pleura, peritoneum, peritoneum and pericardium. The team of Jacqueline Moline, Professor of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology and Prevention at the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research, is sure of this after studying the records of 33 patients.
Mine Talc
Talcum powder: Caution it can contain asbestos
The majority of cancer patients were women whose only significant exposure to asbestos – the main risk factor for malignant mesothelioma – was the daily use of cosmetic talcum powder.
The researchers have explained the cases of six persons in detail. The tissue tests they were subjected to reveal the presence of fibers that are compatible with the type of asbestos found in cosmetic talcum powder and not with that found in building materials and insulation.
The powder which is found in many bathroom cabinets has been mentioned for years because of its connection with asbestos. In fact, it may be natural, because the two geological elements sometimes form side by side. Indeed, when, in some mines, talc is extracted asbestos fibers may also be present.
Professor Jacqueline Moline explained to the time: “This is the first time someone has said: let me look at all these cases, make things right and determine where talcum powder is the only exposure”. She adds: “People don’t even know that cosmetic talcum powder may contain asbestos. And yet, “Everything indicates that talcum powder is the cause,” she says.
FEEDBACK:
Johnson & Johnson’s recall of 33,000 bottles of Baby Powder with each bottle weighing 1.375 lbs. amounts to 45,375 pounds or 22,687.5 tons of asbestos-containing material. Because only a fraction of Johnson &Johnson’s talc was tested, it may be this recall is the tip of the iceberg. It’s a fact that landfill space is rapidly declining. Every day the news is touting the urgency to protect our environment: recycle, reuse, reduce, create a circular economy, reduce the carbon footprint, stop climate change, and send zero waste to the landfill. What is Johnson & Johnson going to do with the 22,687.5 tons of recalled Baby Powder? Are they going to be good public and corporate citizens, environmentally sustainable and financially responsible, seeking out and investing in commercially available, Federal Environmental Protection Agency approved, asbestos destruction technologies that will permanently eliminate asbestos from our environment or will they take the lowest cost and easiest way and send it to a landfill? Landfilling leaves us with future unpredictable cleanup costs and an infinite amount of asbestos-related deaths? The initial costs of using asbestos destruction technologies may be higher than landfilling, but the use of these technologies will be less costly in every way,