Condoms and dummies can cause cancer

World health experts say a chemical found in babies' nipples and pacifiers can be harmful to human health.

MBT can cause cancer as part of a condom.(Photo: PA).

In a meeting in Lyon (France), 24 experts from 8 countries identified enough evidence to give 2-mercaptobenzothiazole , MBT for short, to the list of possible cancer-causing agents, Telegraph reported. This is a chemical used in a variety of rubber products such as condoms, infant pacifiers, rubber gloves, elastic elastic bands and tires.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that people be most cautious about workers working in rubber factories because they regularly contact and inhale MBT. Earlier, the WHO International Agency for Cancer Research discovered MBT related to bowel cancer and leukemia after examining a chemical plant in the UK. However, it is not entirely possible that MBT is the direct culprit because there are many other chemicals that appear in the production process.

Risks for the community from using rubber utensils have not been studied. Professor Tom Sorahan from Birmingham University (UK), who led the inspection at the British factory, assured that a small amount of MBT in everyday items could not be harmful."I doubt the ability of MBT to bring danger to the community, but the workers involved in production need to be protected," he concluded.