In a recent study at the Seattle-based University, which involved examining and interviewing over 1000 women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between the years of 2000-2004, researchers debunked claims that obstructing the breast’s lymph system causes a dangerous accumulation of cancer causing toxins.
“Our study found no evidence that wearing a bra increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer. The risk was similar no matter how many hours per day women wore a bra, whether they wore a bra with an underwire, or at what age they first began wearing a bra,” said researcher Lu Chen.
This myth was perpetuated by Sydney Ross and Soma Grismaijer’s book published in 1995: Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, which put forth many of these ill-informed ideas and problematic research methodologies that have been questioned by experts for many years. One such criticism includes its strong focus on western culture, “the authors’ observations did not take into account differences between these cultures in known risk factors for breast cancer, such as diet, weight, exercise, the age at which menstruation starts, pregnancies, and breast feeding,” commented the Cancer Council of Australia.
According to the American Cancer Society, the chances of a woman developing invasive breast cancer in her life is around 1 in 8.