Letter: Chemicals and cancer
Thursday, 19 July 2012
The last few decades have seen an explosion
in cancer. Normally, I would want to back a statement like that with
some authoritative statistics. No need — everybody has friends and
relatives who have been stricken.
It's all around us — the bracelets, the
various benefit events, ads for Cancer Treatment Centers of America on
prime-time TV. A tremendous amount of money goes to research to find a
cure. That's good — for those dealing with the disease, progress can't
come soon enough.
But we rarely talk about the causes. The
simple reality is that this is the result of the cornucopia of synthetic
compounds we have introduced into the environment. It can't be genetic —
changes to entire populations don't happen that fast. We are swimming
in a sea of chemicals that our body was not designed to handle, an
estimated 80,000, 232 of which were found in the umbilical cords of
babies in five states in one study.
So yes, we need to find a cure, but as is
the case with many undesirable results, if you really want to get at
this, it is more effective to move upstream and stop the new cases
before they ever get in the pipeline. Look for organizations doing
targeted, impactful work like "Cans, not cancer" (Google it), which is
pushing to get BPA out of food cans. Eat fresh, basic foods. Eliminate
plastics, fragrances and noxious chemicals at home. Read "What's Gotten
Into Us" (Jenkins) and support local sustainability efforts.
Dan Welsh
South Salem, July 14
