Have you lost someone to cancer? Do you know someone with cancer? Lets examine what causes cancer and how we can make choices to treat and prevent cancer in ourselves and in other people.
First we must define the term Carcinogen.
A Carcinogen is any substance that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer through damaging DNA or through the disruption of cellular processes.
Solutions to Cancer
The solutions to cancer are multifaceted and we must take a holistic approach to deal with the weakening of the body that allows cancer cells to get out of control in the first place.
1. Eating organic food (less pesticides in you, fewer carcinogens in the environment)
2. Genetic screening (adoption if both partners have risk factors that will harm the children)
3. Viral avoidance (fewer sexual partners, condom use, avoid touching other people)
4. Addressing negative emotions (correcting social, spiritual, and psychological problems)
5. Avoiding toxic products (Cosmetic, Hygiene, Lawn, Cleaning & Pest Chemicals)
6. Avoiding industrial pollutants (coal power plant, oil refinery, chemical plant)
7. Demanding protection from law makers who can regulate toxics.
8. Staying healthy and fit so that your body can handle the cancerous cells better.
9. Avoid animal proteins (misfolded,broken proteins "prions" can cause cancer.
10. Eating Anti-Cancer Foods (Skip to the End of this Post to read the Article)
Also see the film "Forks Over Knives) to learn about food that cures cancer!
11. Talking to your oncologist about the issues raised in this article.
Once a person has cancer, conventional medical intervention (pharmaceutical, radiological and surgical) are very effective when combined with the other lifestyle choice approaches mentioned in this posting. Now lets take a look at the various causes of cancer and why the above solutions work.
Causes of Cancer
There are several causal factors that give rise to cancers. The research conducted on cancers up until today (early 2012) increasingly show that cancer is the result of genetic risk factors set off by triggers from viri, carcinogens are unresolved social, spiritual, and psychological problems.
Everyone has cancerous cells in their body, when someone gets “cancer” what that actually means is that the body has lost its ability to effective deal with the cancer cells. Semantically it would be more accurate to call cancer "cancering" as a verb. Cancer is not a static thing, cancer is an uncontrolled emergence of cancer cells where the a cancering person is for many of the following reasons no longer able to effectively control the cancer cells.
We can inherit genetic mistakes from errors in our parents’ gene sets. These inherited errors cause a wide range of diseases, and many cancers are associated with inherited genetic defects. Other genetic cancer defects can occur when an error is expressed during early fetal development. This can happen to people who have no family history of heredity driven risk factors for cancer. When people are planning on having a child, they can have genetic screening to see if they have risk factors for cancer. If the couple has incompatible gene problems that will unfairly punish a child with sickness, they parents should explore adoption. There are millions of children that could use a good home. Human population is already out of control, so adopting combats several large scale problem that negatively impact society.
Viral Causes of Cancer
Right now 7 different viruses are known to cause cancers in humans. Some of these viruses are sexually transmitted diseases. Research in virology indicates that they are likely dozens of different cancer viri. We need to be a lot more careful with whom we touch and how we interact with other people physically. There are a lot of dangerous viruses that science has not yet identified. If we error on the side of safety, we stand to gain a lot by avoiding these cancer virus dangers. If we error on the side of having fewer sexual partners, then we expose ourselves less to these known and unknown cancer causing viruses.
Psycho-social Drivers of Cancer
Negative emotions are Toxic. There is a increasing body of research evidence that documents the relationships between unresolved social, spiritual, and psychological problems and diseases. Toxic negative emotions and thoughts cause the immune system to weaken whilst increasing the amount of stress hormones in our body. When the body is weakened by these negative emotions ideas or thoughts the body is less able to effectively handle cancerous cells. Resolving our personal, social, emotional, spiritual, and psychological problems is critical to maintaining a healthy body and mind. We have to address our problems as the arrive so that our body can be strong to deal with cancer cells. This especially important today, because we literally swimming in a sea of synthetic carcinogens in our environments.
Environmental Cancer Risk Factors
Toxic synthetic chemicals known as carcinogens are major environmental risk factor today. Substantial increases in the average persons exposure to carcinogens is the result of decades of massive population growth coupled with extreme increases in pollution emissions.
Around the House
In ones home and personal life, many products we interact with contain carcinogens. Fabrics and plastics components in our home furnishings, clothes, cars and appliances contain BRF (Brominated Flame Retardants): toxic carcinogens that makes these products flame resistant. You can find products that do not contain BFR and demand that companies reformulate their products with green safe flame inhibitor chemicals.
The Skin is a Sponge
Colognes and perfumes are frequently formulated with several different carcinogens/ mutagens and tetragens. The laws governing what can or cannot go into “scent” products is extremely lax because these products are not meant for ingestion. Unfortunately, human skin readily absorbs a lot of these chemical toxins. You are supposed to apply these scents to your clothes not your skin. I am personally very familiar with perfume chemistry because I produced cologne and perfume as a hobby for many years. I have background in science and specifically chemistry and researched most of the several hundred chemicals commonly used in the perfume industry, the vast majority of which are toxic.
Other consumer cleaning product, hygiene products and cosmetic products contain carcinogens. Many of the chemicals in these products are absorbed by our skin and are immune system disrupters. Once absorbed into our bodies they change hormone systems by interfering with body chemical signaling: this has been directly linked to many kinds of cancer. Many of these toxins are hard for the body to eliminate because they are completely synthetic and our bodies do not have a handling or disposal mechanism for these man made carcinogens.
Landscape Chemicals
Lawn care, insect/ pest control and landscape management chemicals (fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, pesticides) are some of the most toxic things that consumers are able to buy. Most hardware stores have a section filled with these kind of products that smell like an exotic chemical nightmare. These products are totally incompatible with our bodies. Most of these products are synthetic chemicals that are designed to kill something; it actually possible to convert a lot of these products into chemical weapons. People go and buy these products and spray/ apply them around the house and in their yards, and this can be an exposure source to dozens of carcinogenic chemicals.
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| Smog over L.A. California 2005 |
Smog
Vehicle emissions are also filled with carcinogens. Unburned gasoline vapors and hydrocarbon soot/ particulate are some of the worse components of vehicle exhaust in terms of carcinogenic impact on human health. Smog inhalation is associated with brain damage, heart disease, asthma and cancer. Fortunately, modern cars are a lot cleaner in term of their exhaust emissions. Unfortunately, traffic congestion, causes a lot of this smog to enter to cabin of passenger vehicles. If you can smell someone else’s car, you are likely breathing something toxic. The smell in the vehicle exhaust is made of toxics chemicals. Clean burning vehicles minimize the production of smog forming toxics in their exhaust output. A hybrid vehicle like the Toyota Prius for example, releasing 90% less smog forming toxic emissions than a conventional vehicle of the same size, weight and performance class.
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| Coal Power Plant Emissions are Toxic |
Industrial emissions from coal power plants, airports, oil refineries and chemical-processing plants are also significant source of environmental carcinogen exposure.
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| Rain-forest slash and burn before oil Palm: Thanks Unilever |
The scale of human pollution emissions into the environment is truly unbelievable. Thom Hartmann writes about this subject in his book “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” ; “In the 24hours since this time yesterday, over 200,000 acres of rain forest have been destroyed” while” 13 million tons of toxic chemicals have been released into our environment." The scale of destructive pollution emitting human activity is truly historically unprecedented. Huge swaths of diverse old growth forest have been replaced by monoculture crops of oil palm. Oil sands in Canada are being extracted with millions of gallons of fresh water that is polluted in the process. Paper pulp processing from unethical companies like Kimberly Clark releases millions of gallons of dioxin contaminated water. Runoff pollution in Puget Sound alone releases some 8 million gallons of synthetic oils into our wetlands and local waters every year.
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| Texas Oil Refinery at Night Flaring off Toxic Goo |
Smoke stacks and flaring columns from metal smelting facilities, coal power plants and oil refiners release thousands of tons of carcinogenic emissions every year. Coal power plants are some of the worst offenders, as the combustion of coal releases heavy metals carcinogens like lead, arsenic and mercury into our air. Flaring columns at oil refineries emit a toxic foul smelling dark sooty mixture of carcinogens from the combustion of “junk” chemicals produced in the oil refining process.
High Cost of Low Prices
The scale and wide range of sources of these carcinogens we are now exposed to in our environments is a primary causal factor in the explosive emergence of cancers. There is a high cost of the low prices of these products and pollution sources. Cancers are incredibly difficult to treat. A lot of research is being done to develop new drugs to treat cancer, but we can get more value out of avoiding exposure to the pollutant/ toxic carcinogens that cause cancers in the first place.
Why Care?
Going green and being eco-friendly is not just a pointless trendy fad: the modern environmental movement is a reaction to the increasing scale of toxic pollution emissions into the environments in which our foods are grown; the environments in which we live, work and play. Environmentalism is about protecting other people and the natural world from greed driven toxic synthetic chemical pollution emissions and development driven ecological destruction.
Awareness Increasing
More people are realizing everyday that the Status Quo that got us to this point of swimming in toxic chemicals that cause cancer is not want we need to move forward in the future. Conserving power and energy by using less fuel, electricity and natural gas will not only save you money; energy conservation result in less pollution entering our environments.
Buying Healthy
Voting organic and all natural when you shop for food is better for your health, but it is also much better for the long-term health of the lands and waters responsible for growing our foods. The future of food depends on humans being making conscious choices to protect and preserve the environment.
We Can Choose To Change
We have the technical know how, knowledge and capacity as a people to clean up these emission sources. We have everything we need as a people to stop the emission of toxic carcinogens’ into our environment. We have everything we need to demand for more organic sustainable safe agriculture and foods. What we really need are policy makers who vote to protect their constituents’ from toxic products and pollution; officials that will hold private companies accountable for what they release into the environment. We can no longer sustain the high costs of lower prices associated with carcinogenic products and pollution if we ever hope to address the problem of cancer effectively.
Cruciferous Vegetables are Anti-Cancer Foods
By Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Nutrition scientists have shown over and over that people who eat more natural plant foods – vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc. – are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer. But are all vegetables equally protective? If we wanted to design an anti-cancer diet, we would want to know which foods have the most powerful anti-cancer effects – then we could eat plenty of these foods each day, flooding our bodies with the protective substances contained within them.
So, which foods have the most powerful anti-cancer effects? Cruciferous vegetables.
This family of vegetables is named for their flowers, having four equally spaced petals in the shape of a cross, from the Latin word ‘crucifer’ meaning ‘cross-bearer.’ These are the cruciferous vegetables:
Arugula
Bok choy
Broccoli
Broccoli rabe
Broccolini
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Collards
Horseradish
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mache
Mustard greens
Radish
Red cabbage
Rutabaga
Turnips
Turnip greens
Watercress
All vegetables contain protective micronutrients and phytochemicals, but cruciferous vegetables are unique – they contain compounds called glucosinolates which are responsible for their pungent or bitter flavors. When cell walls are broken by blending or chopping, a chemical reaction occurs that converts glucosinolates to isothiocyanates (ITCs) – compounds with proven anti-cancer activities. The many ITCs work synergistically to remove carcinogens, kill cancer cells, and prevent tumors from growing. Some ITCs can even help the body excrete estrogen and other hormones, reducing the risk for hormonal cancers.
Cruciferous vegetables are twice as powerful as other plant foods. In population studies, a 20% increase in plant food intake generally corresponds to a 20% decrease in cancer rates, but a 20% increase in cruciferous vegetable intake corresponds to a 40% decrease in cancer rates.
Cruciferous vegetables are not only the most powerful anti-cancer foods in existence, they are also the most nutrient-dense of all the vegetables. Although the National Cancer Institute recommends 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day for cancer prevention, they have not yet established specific recommendations for cruciferous vegetables. I recommend six fresh fruits and eight total servings of vegetables per day, including two servings of cruciferous vegetables – one raw and one cooked. Remember: chopping, chewing, blending, or juicing cruciferous vegetables allows for production of ITCs. Consuming a large variety of these ITC-rich cruciferous vegetables within an overall nutrient-dense diet can provide us with a profound level of protection against cancer.
Watch This Film Too
http://www.forksoverknives.com/
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