Is Your Bra Killing You?
Borrowed from Loving Your Breast Blog by Jan Janzen
Is Your Bra Killing You?
Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 3:24PM
Have you ever thought that your bra may be one of your worst enemies? In Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer’s book, Dressed to Kill, The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, there is compelling information that leads women to that stunning conclusion.
Is it really possible that this most popular under-garment could actually be responsible for breast cancer – at least to a certain degree? The scientific community acknowledges what is called, “culturogenic diseases, or in other words, diseases that are directly related to life-style factors. High-heeled shoes, smoking cigarettes, and a high-fat diet are examples of life-style diseases or creating health problems.
But who would have thought that bras could be causing women serious health challenges? Interestingly, in a study carried out between 1991 and 1993, the authors interviewed 4,700 women in five cities across the United States. Some of their findings were shocking, most of them were distressful and every one of them important to women’s breast health.
In their survey of women who had experienced breast cancer, 99 percents said they had worn their bras twelve hours or more per day. Women who wore a bra all day and to bed experienced a 600% increase of breast cancer than woman among the general population. Even more significant is a 125-fold (12,500%) increase of breast cancer among women who wore a bra 24/7 than a woman who didn’t wear a bra at all. This is a substantially higher risk than the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.
After 2 years of studies, Singer and Grismaijer compiled their studies and sent them to experts such as the director of the National Cancer Institute, the national vice-president of the American Cancer Society, the executive director of the American Women’s Medical Association and even to the famed Dr. Samuel Epstein, to name just a few. Many of the recipients of this report were women leading large organizations for women’s health or prominent cancer organizations. The result?
Not one responded. Not even the women’s groups. None. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it, whose best interests these organizations have at heart.
Are Singer and Grismaijer correct in their assumption that bras have a direct correlation to breast cancer? Their evidence is compelling enough that I take my bra off whenever possible – in appropriate places to be sure – and have also felt it important to share many of these statistics with female friends and business associates.
Perhaps the adage of the 1960’s to burn the bra wasn’t such a bad idea?