Study Shows Americans' Bodies Are Filled With Carcinogens

[marmar]

Study Shows Americans' Bodies Are Filled With Carcinogens

Sunday, 19 June 2016 00:00
By Julie M. Rodriguez, Care2 | News Analysis


It's no secret that many of the everyday conveniences we take for granted contain chemicals linked to cancer: Household products ranging from plastic containers to shampoo and soap have been implicated. And that's not even including contaminants in drinking water or pesticide exposure from simply walking through your local park.

Yet somehow, despite the mounting research showing that Americans are being exposed to suspected or known carcinogens from numerous sources throughout the day, no one has ever done a study to determine just how many of these chemicals can be detected in the average human body. Until now.

A new study from the Environmental Working Group has exhaustively reviewed the existing scientific literature and found that Americans may have up to 420 different carcinogenic chemicals present in their bodies in amounts that exceed EPA safety standards. This held true across a diverse array of populations. Research has even measured carcinogens in human umbilical cord blood, showing that infants are exposed to them before they've ever left the womb.

What's truly frightening about this research is that it's not looking at people who might be exposed to these chemicals through occupational exposure -- instead, it examined the presence of these chemicals in average people, whose only exposure to these chemicals was through normal, everyday life. In some cases, these chemicals were present in household products, but in others, the exposure likely came from the water, soil or air itself, making it essentially unavoidable. ..............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36486-study-shows-americans-bodies-are-filled-with-carcinogens

[surrealAmerican]

1. I wonder, if we had single-payer health insurance, ...

... would the costs of care for diseases caused by environmental pollutants prompt the government to take action to regulate them?

[Delmette]

2. Good thought.

I listen to reports of cancer cures, but never anything specific about what causes cancer so we can prevent it.
It's the same with the polluted Flint River. Everyone knew it was dangerous water, but no one seems to have forced the polluters to stop and clean it up.

Perhaps that would change with Universal Healthcare.

[GoneOffShore]

3. And in other news - We're all dying.

Some of us more quickly than others, but no one gets out alive.

[Binkie The Clown]

4. A hundred years from now every single person who is now a DU member will be dead!

Shocking, but true. And there's nothing you can do about it. Your doctor can't save your life, he/she can only postpone your death. Get used to it.

That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the very real possibility that a hundred years from now every human being on the planet may be dead.

[LanternWaste]

5. Thus health and medicine are irrelevant.

"Some of us more quickly than others, but no one gets out alive..."

Thus health and medicine are irrelevant.

[GoneOffShore]

7. That's not what I said or meant.

But I was pointing out the futility of 'the sky is falling' type of post on something that we are not going to be able to do a thing about.

[FLPanhandle]

6. One nice thing about being in my mid 50's is that I don't worry about this stuff anymore.

My "time to tumor" for most carcinogens is probably longer than my planned lifespan.

So, forget the sunscreen, char me a steak on the grill, I'll pass on mask and gloves when handling chemicals, etc.

It's quite liberating.

[GoneOffShore]

8. ^This^