Thyroid disorders affect 20 million Americans alone… and metabolic and growth issues affect countless more. How many of you use hand sanitizers at least occasionally to clean your hands?
Turns out, this is a problem for our thyroid glands. And not just for women… in fact, the hormone disruption that hand sanitizers have on our bodies is three times more devastating to men!
We’ve known for a long time that the chemicals in hand sanitizers are unhealthy, and also drying and irritating to skin. Unfortunately a new study now links them to cancer… raising (even tripling!) your risk of thyroid cancer.
The Study (published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine Feb 15, 2017):
- Researchers looked at data on over 900 patients… 462 adults with thyroid cancer in 2010 and 2011 and compared them to 498 matched controls
- Researchers carefully calculated exposure to biocides and pesticides based on reported use and detailed information on occupational exposure
- Biocide exposure was highest for occupations in medicine or cleaning… healthcare providers in hospitals, home health aides and building cleaning workers having the highest exposures.
The Results:
- Women with any occupational exposure at all were 48% more likely to develop thyroid cancer
- Men with any occupational exposure at all were 300% more likely to develop thyroid cancer — 3 X the normal rates of thyroid cancers!
- The over all risk of using biocides increased thyroid cancer rates by 65%
- For those with highest cumulative exposures (associated with jobs that require hand sanitizer use such as health professions) the risk of thyroid cancer more than doubled.
- These biocide chemicals are known hormone disrupters… for example, Triclosan has been shown to interrupt and decrease the levels of several different thyroid hormones (necessary for growth and metabolism.)
The Bottom line:
Don’t use chemical based hand sanitizers. They dry out your skin, increasing the chance of cracks and fissures in your skin (an entryway for germs) and they disrupt your growth and metabolic hormone levels, and increase your risk of thyroid cancer — up to 3 FOLD higher thyroid cancer risk.
Moms, try not to pump these hand sanitizers onto your children’s hands — these are filled with chemicals that disrupt growth. And the residue stays on their hands long aftewards, for them to ingest when they eat.
And as I talked about a few months ago on the blog… there is a huge problem with the development of *super bugs* that are resistant to our current arsenal of antibiotics and antivirals, and the problem is only getting worse.
As bacteria and viruses evolve resistance and become more pervasive, I see people reaching more and more for hand sanitizers and wipes. I can’t walk into a supermarket or drugstore or convenience store any more without seeing a box of hand sanitizing wipes right in the entryway.
But what you might not know about these wipes, is that not only are they loaded with toxic chemicals and dry out and crack your skin — causing a direct barrier breech of your skin and a direct entryway for infection — but bacteria and viruses are already becoming resistant to these wipes as well.
Many of the chemical and alcohol based anti-microbial products on the market build up resistance after repeated use… and the fact that they dry and crack skin means that they are actually making your body *more* exposed to the pathogens around you and more likely to pick up an infection.
The integrity of your skin is everything.
If you have followed my blog at all, then you already know I don’t share upsetting medical information if I don’t have an uplifting, healthy, holistic solution.
So here it is… I’ve got you covered:
Enter, silver cloths
No skin irritation or breakdown.
No building bacterial or viral resistance.
No toxic chemicals.
No liquids to spill in your purse or to cause issues when traveling or when using on sensitive electronic surfaces.
No need to wash between uses.
No nano-technology.
Simply wipe and go — wipe down your hands, your face, that shopping cart, that dirty doorknob, that water fountain handle, your cell phone, your computer keyboard.
Click over here for yours…
xoxoxo, Laura Koniver MD