Cancer and life itself are both the result of mutations. Most of these appear to be spontaneous — the result of entropy — while others can be traced to carcinogens: natural ones like sunlight and manufactured ones like the estimated 80,000 substances that have been introduced over the decades by the chemical industry. Most of these, by far, have not been tested for carcinogenicity, and regulation has been lax. Yet decades of epidemiological studies indicate that — except for the carcinogens in cigarette smoke — synthetic chemicals, including food additives, are not a major contributor to the overall cancer rate. However toxic a substance may be, the amount of exposure received by the general population is very dilute. Each year, as more novel substances have been unleashed into the world, the overall cancer rate has remained steady and, for the last two decades, has been declining. In the United States, only two residential cancer clusters have been identified and associated with pollutants. But as I’ve written elsewhere, even these are far from clearcut and they involve a handful of cancer cases. blogs.discovermagazine/fire-in-the-mind/2013/07/07/the-most-powerful-carcinogen-is-entropy
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 06:38:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015