Author claims bras cause breast cancer, calls for boycott of Susan G. Komen

PHOENIX — The co-author of a controversial health book is asking women to not only boycott the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the American Cancer Society, but he’s asking women to send them their bras the next time they ask for a donation.

“They want to completely ignore and suppress this information,” said Sydney Ross Singer, a medical anthropologist. “They think it’s ridiculous, it doesn’t deserve any research attention and they refuse to consider it. Of course, they get a lot of funds from the lingerie industry.”

According to Singer, author of “Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras,” brassieres restrict the flow of lymphatic fluid and cause the breasts to retain toxins. Singer said his research corroborates what other studies have revealed: A direct link between women, their undergarments and cancer.

Singer suggests wearing a bra more than 12 hours a day dramatically increases the risk of getting breast cancer. A woman who wears a bra all day, everyday is 125 times more likely to develop breast cancer than a woman who rarely or never wears a bra. Those who sleep in their bra, he found, have a 75 percent chance of developing breast cancer at some point in their lives.

The American Cancer Society responded to the claims on its website.

“There are no scientifically valid studies that show wearing bras of any type causes breast cancer. The two anthropologists suggested this association in a book called Dressed to Kill.

Their study was not conducted according to standard principles of epidemiological research and did not take into consideration other variables, including known risk factors for breast cancer. We do not know of any epidemiologic studies published in scientific journals that suggest bras directly contribute to breast cancer risk or that lymphatic compression by bras might cause breast cancer.”