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I was doing a crossword puzzle the other day and I uncovered the answer to the following clue:
“Post bath soother” (4 letters)
It didn’t come to me at first but after filling in a few other clues I realized that the word it was looking for was “TALC”.
The creator of this crossword puzzle, I’m guessing, was pretty old-school. Talc has been on the radar list of bad ingredients for some years now. Many baby powders are touted as “talc-free”, replacing the ingredient with safer alternatives – like arrowroot powder, kaolin clay and/or corn starch. But it's still super common in powdered makeup. And if you've ever used talcum powder for rock climbing or gymnastics... well just guess where it got its name.
In case you were among the many that didn’t know that (a) talc was a potentially toxic ingredient, or (b) why talc is now considered a potential toxin, let’s recap. First of all, talc is absolutely natural. It is a mineral, found among a number of environments and well known to geologists (such as myself), general rockhounds, and pretty much anyone who has taken an introductory course on geology. And if you’re among any of those groups of population you may recall that talc is the standard of “1” on Moh’s scale of hardness. That is to say, that talc is one of the softest mineral we know of. But what does all this have to do with the toxicity of talc?
You see, talc is also mineralogically similar – and often present with – asbestos (pictured). Asbestos is also a natural mineral and no doubt you’re aware of the toxicity of asbestos. In fact, not all types of asbestos, but only a few are toxic. And their toxicity is almost entirely related to inhaling the particles. There are two primary routes of exposure to toxic asbestos dust: (1) – inhaling due to poorly ventilated conditions without proper safety respiratory equipment in an asbestos mine, or (2) – inhalation from aging asbestos insulation (or ceiling tiles). It is potentially carcinogenic; many types of cancers have been linked to asbestos exposure but lung cancer and mesothelioma are among the most common. Technically, talc is not likely to be as toxic as asbestos, but rarely are the two not found together. One of the most common methods of making talc (geologically speaking) is by alteration of asbestos crystals. Not too surprisingly, most commercially used talc is contaminated with asbestos. Even still, talc does have its risks as well. It's just more like "asbestos lite"More proof that sometimes we need to read between the lines of ingredients.
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts! I would like to add one thing though: Talc, when used in a body powder, specifically in the female genital area has been show to migrate up the vaginal canal and contirbute to ovarian cancer and likewise, when used on baby's genitals it is a known risk for the development of ovarian cancer.
ReplyDeleteHow does it happen? Talc particles are able to move through the reproductive system and become imbedded in the lining of the ovary. Researchers have found talc particles in ovarian tumors and have found that women with ovarian cancer have used talcum powder in their genital area more frequently than healthy women.
Despte a 1993 National Toxicology Program report which found that cosmetic grade talc, without any asbestos-like fibers, caused tumors in animal subjects.'Clearly with or without asbestos-like fibers, cosmetic grade talcum powder is a carcinogen.' it is still unregulated.
Talc also poses a health risk when exposed to the lungs. Since the early 1980s, records show that several thousand infants each year have died or become seriously ill following accidental inhalation of baby powder.
Overall, it goes without saying, why not be 'better safe than sorry' and avoid talc all together!
Thank you, Dear! Talc traveling up the vagina is new info to me, actually. Clearly it is even dirtier than I thought!
ReplyDeleteAnd inhalation of talc is indeed dangerous. I tried to keep this post a bit less wordy than some of the others, but talc's lung toxicity is again related to it's similarity to asbestos. If I wasn't clear it should be noted that although talc is less toxic than asbestos, it's not necessarily by much. Much like beer and lite beer (or American beer), it still does the trick (the trick being to kill you and give you lung cancer in this case); it just takes a bit more [talc] to do it [than asbestos].
this was an excellent post- I especially liked the info on how talc was produced from a geological perspective :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa! :D
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