I was interested to read this article on ovarian cancer and talcum powder from ‘When Women Inspire’:

Johnson & Johnson, ovarian cancer risks, and the law

This reminded me of my mother’s warning a few years back to never use talcum powder in the ‘Midlands’ area (Dot was a funny old girl, and she wasn’t talking about Birmingham or Wolverhampton either).  She was quite well read, and would always tell me of interesting articles she had come across.  The article she had read was quite similar to this one, in that somebody was suing a different company about a similar occurrence.  At one point this had led to talcum powder being taken off our local supermarket’s shelves, although at the moment I see it has crept back.

Mum soon followed this up with another article regarding underarm deodorant, where excised breast cancers under the microscope had been shown to contain parabens from deodorants.  I must admit to using just good old fashioned soap, water and aqueous cream these days, as to use anything else seems a little bit risky…

What with lipsticks containing lead and also parts of badgers’ nether regions, parabens in deodorants, and asbestos in talcum powder,  I’m of the opinion that a simple bar of soap poses the least risk.  What do you think?

But this got me thinking… what nasties are in a bar of soap?