. . .the truth behind the urban legend About ten years ago, a rumor that deodorants, especially antiperspirants, caused breast cancer spread through the Internet like a brush fire. No one seems to know how the rumor got started, but it referenced the fact that most breast cancers occur in the upper outer quadrant of the breast next to the armpit. Add this to the conglomeration of toxic ingredients in underarm products -- like parabens, aluminum, phthalates, propylene glycol, triclosan, talc, silica, polyethylene glycol, ethoxylated alkylphenols, and more -- many of them suspected or known carcinogens, and you have a plausible hypothesis. In 2002 an epidemiological study was commissioned by the National Cancer Institute to address the rumor. It compared 810 breast cancer patients to 793 controls with respect to antiperspirant and deodorant use. No significant differences were found, and the cosmetics industry breathed a little easier. But maverick researchers weren't satisfied, and smal…