Dressed To Kill (ePub)

Do bras cause breast cancer?

Singer and Grismaijer have collected striking evidence that bra-wearing may be a major causal factor for breast cancer. According to the results of their 1991-93 Bra and Breast Cancer Study, described in this book, women who wear tight-fitting bras 24 hours a day are 125 times more likely to have breast cancer than women who do not wear bras at all.

Why would bras be linked to breast disease and cancer? It has to do with the effect of bras on breast circulation, specifically the effect of bras on the lymphatic system.

It is the bloodstream's job to deliver fresh, oxygenated fluid to the tissues and to remove carbon dioxide. It is the lymphatic system's job to remove fluid, called lymph, from the tissue spaces, along with debris, viruses, cancer cells, bacteria, toxins, and other unwanted material.

One important fact about the lymphatic system is that it is a passive drainage system. While the bloodstream delivers fluid under the pumping pressure of the heart, the lymphatic system has no pressure. Its flow is influenced by gravity, breathing, exercise and movement, and massage. And the slightest constriction or compression of the tissue can close the tiny lymphatic vessels down, inhibiting lymph flow and leading to fluid accumulation, cysts, pain, and tenderness. This fluid congestion within the tissue is called lymphedema.

Women who have fibrocystic breast disease essentially have lymphedema of the breast. Its cause, we discovered, is the impairment of lymphatic flow by pressure from the bra. Bras are elastic garments that exert constant pressure on the breast tissue. Their purpose is to push the breasts into a more fashionable shape. Yet, this pressure can cut down on flow within the lymphatic system, reducing its ability to remove fluid and toxins from the breast tissue.

The toxins that are within the breast tissue include some biochemical products of tissue edema, such as free radicals, which are known to cause cancer. In addition, there are also toxins in our air, food and water, including pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and other products of our petrochemically polluted world. Many of these are known to cause cancer. We deliver these toxins to all our tissues each day through the bloodstream. It is the job of the lymphatics to remove these toxins. And it is this job that the bra inhibits by its compression and constriction of the breasts.

This is how bras cause breast cancer. Cancer causing toxins are delivered to the breast tissue by the bloodstream, and are kept there by the bra. The toxins are the bullets. The bra holds them in place, pointed directly at the breasts.

This explains why women have more cancer in the breast than elsewhere in their bodies. The breasts are the most clothing constricted of any organ. It also explains why women have more breast cancer than men, and why breast cancer is only a problem in cultures in which bras are worn. Where there are no bras, there is virtually no breast cancer.

Our study in Dressed To Kill was conducted on approximately 4700 U.S. women, about half of whom had breast cancer. We asked these women about their past bra-wearing attitudes and habits. What we discovered was that the women in the cancer group had a history of wearing bras tighter and longer than did the non-cancer group. In fact, many women in the cancer group slept with their bras on. Almost none were bra-free. This differed greatly from the non-cancer group.

When the results were analyzed, they revealed that women who wear bras over 12 hours daily have a dramatically increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to bra-free women. In fact, bra-free women have about the same chances of developing breast cancer as men have, and this is over 100 times less than that for women wearing bras 18-24 hours daily. When you consider that smoking increases the incidence of lung cancer 20-30 times, this makes the link between breast cancer and bras 4-5 times greater than the link between cigarettes and lung cancer!

For the thousands of women who have tried ending the bra habit, the results are spectacular. Having bound their breasts since puberty, the feeling of breast freedom sometimes may seem strange at first. But within days, the breasts have their chance to drain of congestion and excess fluid. Tenderness ends. Menstrual breast pain may disappear altogether. Cysts vanish. It's like a miracle.

Interestingly, some women have become so conditioned to wearing a bra that they feel uncomfortable without one. That is because their breasts have become reliant on the bra for support, causing the loss of function of the musculature and ligaments that normally support the breasts. In other words, bras cause the breasts to be weak and droop. There are many large breasted women of all ages who have firm, healthy, trouble-free breasts because they have never worn a bra.

It will take a fashion revolution for women to free themselves from the bondage of bras. But that's what's needed of we are to end this breast cancer epidemic.