September 11, 2014
by Sydney Ross Singer
(GreenMedInfo.com) A new study was just announced in mainstream media declaring the bra-cancer link does not exist. The study looked into the bra wearing habits of women ages 55 and older who had all worn bras since puberty. They concluded that women should be “reassured” that bras are not causing breast cancer.
[Sponsor links: Unnatural Cell Growth Healing Protocol]
Actually, this study supports the bra-cancer link, since all the women in the cancer group were bra wearers.
In addition, the study is useless since none of the women in the study were bra-free, so it lacks a proper control for examining bra wearing impacts. No bra-free baseline.
They also did not look at bra tightness, which is a major factor in the bra-cancer link, which is about tight bras causing lymphatic constriction.
It is curious why the authors deliberately ignored the findings of a Harvard study (Eur J Cancer) which also found that PRE-menopausal women who were bra-wearers had over 100% increased incidence of breast cancer compared to bra free women. Why this study focused only on POST-menopausal women, instead of researching the positive association of pre-menopausal women, suggests a bias and agenda.
It seems there is, indeed, a hidden agenda. The main author, who is a PhD student, did not mention that The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where this study was done, receives money annually from a “Bra Dash” fundraiser, where bras are worn on the outside of clothing during a 5K race to raise funds.
It would be very ironic to criticize bras for causing cancer when they are used to raise funds for cancer research.
The fact that this poorly designed study without proper controls is used to conclude that there is no bra-cancer link also reveals a bias. The authors should have called for more research.
All this study really shows is that some women who have worn bras for 40 years or longer will get breast cancer and some will not. We already knew that. You can say the same thing about smokers and lung cancer.
Of course, as the bra-cancer link gains increasing public awareness, there are bound to be studies trying to refute it. Billions of dollars annually are at stake. There are also studies that try to refute the cigarette-cancer link. So I take all this as a good sign of progress, since it brings the topic into mainstream consciousness, and these attempts at denial are expected.