‘Is it the Listerine brand specifically?’: Surgeon warns Listerine is linked to this type of cancer—is it?

From data breaches to potentially harmful ingredients, there have been class-action lawsuits for just about everything.

Now, a new class-action suit highlighting a potential link between a common household item and colorectal cancer has been filed. One colorectal surgeon has taken to social media to ask her followers if they think the suit is warranted.

A doctor's warning

In a TikTok posted by Karen Zaghiyan, MD, FASCRS (@drkarenzaghiyan_official on TikTok) that has drawn over 721,000 views on the platform, the surgeon cites a suit claiming Listerine mouthwash is linked to colorectal cancer. Reports found the presence of a type of bacteria that is typically found in the mouth in colorectal cancer patients.

"If you use Listerine mouthwash, or have a friend who does, listen up," Dr. Zaghiyan says in the video. "I'm Dr. Karen Zaghiyan, and I'm a board certified colorectal surgeon, and earlier this year I read about the very interesting article that made headlines about fusobacterium species in the oral cavity being associated in increased tumors of individuals with colorectal cancer."

"Now this article made headlines, and I found it to be extremely interesting because fusobacteria is really an oral bacteria, and why in the world would it be inside somebody's colon and inside a colorectal cancer?" she asks in the clip.

She says that the main piece leading to the lawsuit is actually a study claiming that there is a higher amount of this bacteria in the oral cavity of patients who use Listerine.

"What really sparks a lawsuit, however, against Listerine, is another publication that recently came out earlier this summer that suggested that individuals who used twice daily Listerine mouthwash actually had a higher rate of fusobacterium species in their oral cavity," she says.

Despite the study's claim, there still is not proof of causation, Dr. Zaghiyan notes.

"As of now, this is all association data," she says. "We don't have causation, we don't have data that shows that individuals who use Listerine mouthwash are are more likely to have colorectal cancer or have a higher rate of colorectal cancer. Now the class action suit suggests that Listerine does not warn about the use of its oral mouth wash and claims that it has all sorts of health benefits that are probably controversial."

@drkarenzaghiyan_official Are you usung an alcohol based mouthwash? How do you feel about this info? #mouthwash #listerinemouthwash #fusobacterium #dentalhygienist #dentalhygiene #dentist #oralhealth #colorectalcancer #doctor #coloncancer #microbiome #oralmicrobiome #gutmicrobiome #colonhealth #guthealth ♬ original sound - Karen Zaghiyan, MD, FASCRS

The Daily Dot has reached out to Dr. Zaghiyan via contact form and to Listerine's parent company Kenvue, Johnson & Johnson's healthcare division, via email regarding the video.

Is Listerine linked to colorectal cancer?

Kenvue, the manufacturer of Listerine, maintains that the use of the mouthwash does not have any relationship to colorectal cancer, or cancer of any kind.

The argument made in the class action suit, however, alleges that "daily use of the product, however, has been shown to result in the proliferation of more bacteria associated with several deadly cancers."

One of the prime issues, according to the class action suit, is that the product does not display a warning to customers to view regarding risk of cancer.

As reported by Slate, the study referenced by the class action suit does not provide strong enough evidence to effectively link the use of Listerine to colorectal cancers. In fact, it was not a study of the relationship between the two at all. Rather, it was a re-evaluation of another study, which was not testing for such a relationship.

Viewers weigh in

In her video, Dr. Zaghiyan asks viewers to weigh in on whether they think the class action suit is warranted. Some viewers had doubts.

"How do they rule this out with people that drink alcohol regularly," one commenter wrote.

"Why would it be only listerine and not other mouth washes?" another said.

"It's seems more likely that people who have bad bacterial issues in their mouth are inclined to use Listerine to address," a further user wrote..

Others shared that they and loved ones had been using Listerine for the long term before being diagnosed with some form of colorectal cancer.

"My father was a big Listerine user," one commenter claimed. "He died of colon cancer in 1997."

"Interesting!" another commented. "My husband has used Listerine for years. This year he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer hmmmnn."

"My grandma got mouth cancer and the first thing her dr asked her was if she uses mouth wash," a third added.

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