Cancer
is a major health concern for most people, yet they remain unaware
that they may be putting themselves at risk every day. Most consumers
would assume that government labelling laws would be enforced to warn
the public of any potential health hazards. These laws, however, are
far from adequate.
Consumers need to educate themselves of the risks, because the regulatory bodies
are not going to do it for them. The public then has the power to influence industry
by wisely spending their shopping dollar on the products they know are safe or
safer.
Many people are aware that their diet isn’t perfect. But even eating fish
and unprocessed food does not mean you are avoiding many dangerous substances
linked to cancer and birth defects. Would you still give your children hotdogs
if you knew that many contained nitrite preservatives which are precursors of
carcinogenic nitrosamines. Children who consume these hotdogs about a dozen times
per month have up 4 times more chance of developing brain cancer and a 7-fold
excess risk of leukaemia.*
Pesticides are also a major source of contamination for many foods. Fruits, vegetables,
nuts and seeds, all foods we consider the healthiest, may well be contaminated
with pesticides used in their production or even waxing.
There is also a wide range of animal drugs, industrial and chemical residues
to be found in the food we eat every day. There are as many as 40 of the animal
drugs and pesticides, known to occur as residues in meat and poultry that are
carcinogens. * How is it possible that these alarming findings are not more widely
known? The fact is that the many reports and studies done remain largely ignored
by the policy makers in the U.S. The use of pesticides and chemicals is not on
the decrease as one would hope in the light of many reports demonstrating their
toxicity. Over the last 25 years in the U.S. pesticide use has increased 125
per cent.
The list of carcinogenic contaminants seems endless. Dr Epstein lists 30 carcinogenic
contaminants commonly found in food and beverages.* Consumers are told that there
is no cause for concern by the authorities. How many people would be unconcerned
if they knew the facts? The regulatory systems are in place to support industry
not consumer health.
Food is not the only area of concern. Water and food packaging have many carcinogenic
concerns surrounding them. We are also under threat in homes from household products.
There are a vast number of synthetic petrochemical products in everyday use since
World War II. Six hundred of the seventy thousand chemical compounds are known
to cause cancer.* One would expect these chemicals to be banned from household
items where there is surely no need for them and there are safer alternatives.
However this is not being done.
Cosmetics and toiletries are another area of major concern. These are products
we put directly on our skin. It is now widely accepted that the skin is not the
impenetrable barrier it was once believed to be. (for example many medications
are placed in patches on the skin) Many of the ingredients in personal care products
and cosmetics are systemic. (able to be absorbed into the organs of the body)
Not only do the ingredients that have been intentionally added pose a potential
health hazard, but the fact that many products contain contaminants or the ingredients
combinations may react to form potentially dangerous substances yet another major
concern. There are never any warning labels mentioning the fact that ingredients
are carcinogenic, neurotoxic or teratogenic. (affecting the foetus).
Again this is an industry that is poorly regulated. Manufacturers lack adequate
data on safety tests.
Many manufactures are not even registered.
884 of the chemicals available for use in cosmetics have been reported to the
U.S. government as toxic substances.*
Look in every supermarket and you will find popular brands of personal care products
and toiletries contain one of any number of carcinogenic ingredients.
There are a number of categories of ingredients that pose a concern.
Formaldehyde is an irritant, sensitiser, carcinogen and neurotoxin. It is formed
or broken down from a number of preservatives that are added to cosmetics and
personal care products. Some examples of these preservatives are: 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,
3-diol, Diazolidinyl urea, and Quaternium 15.
Nitrosamines are another dangerous element in personal care products and are
mostly carcinogenic. They are formed in products that contain Nitrites. Nitrites
are sometimes used as a preservative or can be present as contaminants. DEA and
TEA and PABA are some of the ingredients which may be nitrosamine forming. It
is difficult to know which products that contain these ingredients will actually
contain nitrosamines. The safest option is to stay away from these ingredients
and any products that contain them. This will make it clear to the cosmetic industry
that the public do consider safety an important factor.
Contaminants in products are a source of carcinogenic ingredients. 1,4-dioxane
is a carcinogen that can contaminate products. It is most likely to be found
in ingredients containing the word, prefix or syllable PEG, eth (as in sodium
laureth sulfate) or oxynol.
Talc is one product that many people would presume is harmless. After all we
use it on baby’s bottoms. Yet it has become widely recognised that it causes
ovarian cancer. Caution should be taken in using talc in the genital area. It
may also be inhaled in powdered cosmetics and thereby also poses a risk.
One of the most worrying items in the personal care area is Hair dyes. There
are many carcinogenic ingredients, contaminants and precursors in permanent and
semipermanent hair colour products. This is particularly true for black and dark
brown colours. The cancer hazard for these products is extremely high. There
is evidence to suggest that up to 20 percent of all cases of non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma in U.S. women can be attributed to the use of hair- colour products*.
Many people are aware of the allergic nature of fragrances or get headaches around
perfumes. But it is not widely known that synthetic fragrances are made up of
hundreds of chemicals, some of them carcinogenic. Again the consumer is not protected
by any legislation nor is there any attempt on the part of most manufactures’ to
inform the public of the potential hazards.
In all these circumstances it is up to the consumer to become aware of the many
dangers they face when innocently shopping. There is not any accountability on
the part of the government or the manufacturer’s. Any claim that cancer
was caused by personal care items would be a very difficult case to win. Unfortunately
the buck stops with us as consumers. The people we have to help us are those
who choose to educate the public and dedicate themselves to cancer prevention.
Armed with this information we can vote with our shopping dollar which will send
a clear message to those manufacturers who are slow to heed the message that
the public has a right to buy products that are free of all known toxic ingredients.
* “The Politics of Cancer Revisited” by
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. 1998.
International Leading Authority on the Causes and Prevention of CancerSamuel
S Epstein, M.D. is emeritus Professor of environmental medicine at the University
of Illinois School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition.
He has published some 260 peer reviewed articles, and authored or co-authored
10 books including: the prize-winning 1978 The Politics of Cancer; the 1995 Safe
Shoppers Bible; the 1998 Breast Cancer Prevention Program; the 1998 The Politics
of Cancer, Revisited and the 2001 Unreasonable Risk, How to Avoid Cancer from
Cosmetics and Personal Care Products.
Dr Epstein is an internationally recognized authority on avoidable causes
of cancer, particularly unknowing exposures to industrial carcinogens
in air, water,
the workplace, and consumer products—food, cosmetics and toiletries, and
household products including pesticides—besides carcinogenic prescription
drugs.
Dr Epstein has a website dedicated to cancer prevention www.preventcancer.com
To order his book: The Politics of Cancer, Revisited. 1998. Ph (U.S.) 1 914 887
6467
Fax (U.S.) 1 914 887 5982
Dr Epsetin can be seen on
the; Hope & Beauty (video & DVD) and the Your Health, Your Future (video
& DVD) |