Don't panic about makeup.

• Author: Torff, Sarah Jancosek
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the editor

John Wasick's "Beauty Tips for the FDA" (May/June 2013) was a well-researched and moving article. Wasik raised some important questions about what causes breast cancer, but, with the exception of individuals with the BRCA1/2 gene mutation, there is no single answer.

If cosmetics caused breast cancer, particularly premenopausal breast cancer, millions of women would develop it. Yet they don't. We know now that some women will develop cancers that will never kill them, while others, despite an organic/vegan/clean-living regime, succumb too early to very aggressive forms of the disease.

Underwire bras, power lines, and many other factors have been blamed for causing breast cancer, but no clear links are evident. Similarly, though the eyeliner may have formaldehyde in it, it does not necessarily mean that small amounts absorbed in the eyelid will cause cancer. It may--but...