Q. I am a professional chemist and am amazed that nobody has said that alum actually contains aluminum, because it is a potassium aluminum sulfate salt. Here is the wikipedia link, that is pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum
On the People’s Pharmacy site and others that cover non-aluminum deodorants, alum is sometimes mentioned, but not one time have I seen anybody say that alum contains aluminum. If you guys knew anything about chemistry, which you should given this website, you should have caught that one.
In general, as a chemist, I must say that the public’s ignorance of chemistry is huge and I constantly read information online that is absolutely false. Much of it could be avoided by simply checking Wikipedia… while the information there is not error-free, in most cases it is quite good!
Martin the professional chemist
PEOPLE’S PHARMACY RESPONSE:
Dear Martin,
You must have missed our very recent post about this precise issue titled: Are Natural Alum Crystal Deodorants Safe?
You are quite right that most people have not connected the dots when it comes to alum. They see appealing ads that promote natural crystal deodorants and never bother to read the label where the major ingredient is frequently “alum.”
The controversy over aluminum antiperspirants is not likely to go away anytime soon. Research keeps accumulating that there may be a potential problem. To read more, here is a link to an overview of the scientific studies.
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Please do look over the recent post about alum and see if we have not been responsive to your concerns.
