I’m an internist & pediatrician, board certified in internal medicine, pediatrics and adult infectious diseases. Having said that, I’m not a pulmonologist, but I am very aware of pulmonary disease.

Talc is associated with cancer but rarely ever causes it in adults because, as others have stated, the mechanism of cancer formation is via INHALATION (you have to breathe in the talc.) Nobody routinely breathes in enough of any of these powders (baby powder included) to get cancer. [An aside, you'd get very ill from breathing in the powder (in lieu of "air") before you would ever get cancer.] With regard to endometrial cancers from talc: these are seen when talc is somehow inserted into the abdominal or peritoneal cavities, as talc is quite irritating.

In medicine, we actually take advantage of this quality of talc and intentionally use it in situations where we want two surface to adhere, such as in the pleural space in the chest. Pulmonologists will inject talc into the pleural space when a patient has a problem of reaccumulating fluid there (this is called “pleurodesis.”)

The bottom line: there are many agents that would be a problem if you inhaled them, but are just fine if you put them on your skin. The most significant agent I can think of in this category is water. It is easy to fall into “purist” ways of thinking, but it is quite difficult to actually live this way, and sometimes even impractical. With my knowledge of malignancy and talc, I have no fear of putting talc on my skin.

Regarding the makeup, I have used both. I am in my late 30′s and have begun to accumulate wrinkles around my eyes. I have been a strict proponent of good skin care for years & am loyal to the Philosophy line. I am quite partial to the Mary Kay foundation because it accumulates in the eye wrinkles less and has longer staying power. I also do not use a cover powder–I use only the $18 mineral makeup, and I’m good for the day. I found the Bare Escentuals to look like a cake on my face and be much more difficult to buff with the brush. I suspect that the talc may be what makes the difference between the two products, as the post above suggests.

Just my two cents.

Talc can sometimes be contaminated with asbestos, which is where the problem comes in. You just have to find products that have asbestos-free talc!

Talc used by women in the genital areas MAY be linked to ovarian cancer, and talc miners who inhale large amounts of crushed talc rocks all day every day MAY have a higher risk for talc-related lung cancer. There is also a risk if babies inhale large quantities of baby powder that contains talc.

To sum it up- don’t INGEST talc, and you’ll be fine. Talc used on top of the skin won’t absorb, and you won’t breathe enough in to do more damage than a coughing fit if you inhale a puff of it.

To make you feel even more safe, here are some excerpts from http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org:

1. Cosmetic-grade talc does not contain asbestos, which is confirmed by X-ray diffraction, and optical and electron microscopy. In addition, the producers of cosmetic-grade talc have established purity specifications to ensure that it does not contain residue levels of asbestos.

2. To help prevent inhalation by consumers, talc used in loose powder products in the United States is milled to a relatively large, non-respirable particle size (>5 µm).

If you change your mind about trying Mary Kay minerals, visit http://www.marykay.com/monicajackson. Enjoy!