Why there is no escaping cancer-causing chemicals

We’ve been told for years the different things that can cause cancer; smoking, asbestos, prolonged exposure to the sun, for example.

The latest announcement shows there is simply no getting away from cancer-causing chemicals, as they everywhere in our environment, and it is increasing.

A new study says chemicals that could increase cancer are common, and found in everything from car exhausts, smoke, building materials, furniture, cosmetics and shampoos. Science Daily published the research from the University of Cambridge that says the chemicals in question, aldehydes, are increasingly found in our environment.

The problem with them is that they increase cancer risk because of their ability to break down the repair mechanisms that prevent faults in our genes, the study shows. Professor Ashok Venkitaraman, Director of the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge said the study showed how the chemicals may increase the risk of diseases like cancer but also revealed why some are more likely to develop cancer than others.

“It also helps to explain why ‘the faults in our stars’ — namely the faulty genes we are born with — could make some people particularly sensitive to the cancer-causing effects of these chemicals,” Professor Venkitaraman said. “An important implication of our work is that it may be aldehyde exposure that triggers cancer susceptibility in people who inherit one faulty copy of the BRCA2 gene. This may help us in future to prevent or treat cancer in such people.”

So what can we do? Short of moving into the wilderness, it seems we can’t escape them.

Does this make you rethink your lifestyle?