Cancer - General

The importance of physical activity in cancer prevention, independent of diet and obesity, is becoming better understood. Twenty five percent of all adults engage in no leisure time physical activity. Less than half engage in moderate or vigorous physical activity.

By age 18 to 22 years, only 26 percent of males and 12 percent of females engage in moderate or strenuous activity at least five times per week.

Smoking cigarettes is never good. Most of us know that fact; however, from time to time it's healthy to review what the Federal Government has to say.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and has negative impacts on people at all stages of life. It harms unborn babies, infants, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. The list of diseases caused by smoking has been expanded to include abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataract, cervical cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, periodontitis, and stomach cancer. These are in addition to diseases previously known to be caused by smoking, including bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, and throat cancers, chronic lung diseases, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, as well as reproductive effects and sudden infant death syndrome.

Editor's Note:

"Race" is sometimes mentioned as a risk factor in the development of certain cancers and a number of other diseases. When you read this in a discussion about an illness, note that the explanation seldom refers to anything biological. Instead, it usually refers to behavior, such as eating habits. The kinds of behavior usually mentioned as risk factors are culturally determined. They are not genetic or biological.

An association between Body Mass Index (BMI) at age 18 years in young women (who have never smoked) and death has been reported. Women who were a little overweight at 18 were more than half as likely to die young. Obese teens were at greater risk of premature death. Causes of death included cancer, heart disease, stroke and suicide.

The National Academy of Sciences has confirmed that dioxin is known or likely to cause cancer, possible birth defects, and other health problems. According to the Delaware News Journal, "Delaware ranks No. 1 in the nation in the production of dioxins, dioxins, furans and dioxinlike polychlorinated biphenyls, industrial byproducts that in some cases are routinely trickled into the Delaware River." "The Edge Moor wastewater plant, the Delaware City refinery and the Wilmington Amtrak repair shops are among the region's top sources of dioxins and dioxinlike PCBs."

Some public health specialists say that while some chemicals are 100 times more toxic to children than adults, the EPA's new guidelines assume the worst chemical is only 10 times as bad, therefor the new guidelines are "not protective of children."

Reports by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Children's Health Environmental Coalition have been used in this article to educate Americans about the huge quantity of toxic and hazardous chemical products used in homes that find their way into the bodies of humans and wildlife. Unfortunately, only a miniscule number have been tested for safety.

Recent studies show that it is not just cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman that will affect her newborn's body.

As reported by the Environmental Working Group:
Found in the umbilical cord blood collected by the Red Cross after the cord was cut were "... pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage." " ... perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles — including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board — dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; and numerous pesticides."

According to an Environmental Working Group report, "The National Academy of Sciences found that when fluoride is consumed in high doses--such as through food and water--it can interfere with brain functioning, cause bone fractures, dental fluorosis (weakening of the teeth), thyroid and pineal gland disorders, and worsen diabetes. Fluoride's connection to cancer, IQ deficits, dementia, immune system disorders, and other serious health risks are still being researched."

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are extremely dangerous.

A group of firefighters believe they are a classic cancer cluster. A wave of premature deaths triggered memories of their fire-fighting training 20 years ago with burning oil at the academy. The trainees didn't know then that the oil contained polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, compounds later found to cause cancer.