Possible agents of Cancer
- From: "Barry" <barry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:40:58 -0500
In her newest book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, Davis argues
that the long march against cancer has been misled too often by corporate
interests and sidetracked by missed opportunities.
Devra Davis , 61
Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of
Pittsburgh Cancer Institute with a PhD from the University of Chicago, a
decade at the National Academy of Sciences, an author of more than 170
published articles.
Cellphones - New data from Sweden, she says, show that people using
cellphones for 10 years or more have double the risk of brain cancer. She's
worried about kids under 16 glued to their cellphones. "Would you let your
child play Russian roulette?" she asks.
Aspartame - The artificial sweetener's negative effects in animal studies
occurred in the last third of the creatures' lives, which corresponds to
human beings in their 60s to 80s. Again, she is especially concerned about
children consuming the product over many decades.
The doses that induced cancer in animals, she says, were not especially
high: about two cans of diet pop, two yogurts and a couple of sticks of gum
a day.
Diagnostic radiation - The medical community is becoming increasingly
concerned about unnecessary Computed Tomography scans of children, she
writes. A CT scan of a child's stomach can be equivalent to 600 chest X-rays
and one of an infant's head may equal a few thousand.
While a CT scan may well be warranted in a medical emergency, she says,
repeated follow-up scans may not be a wise idea.
Ritalin - Several papers have indicated that Ritalin, valuable for treating
Attention Deficit Disorder, might pose a risk to the user's genetic makeup,
says Davis. In one study, researchers tested the blood of a dozen children
before and after they were put on the drug, she writes, and found chromosome
damage after three months' use.
Davis cautions that the numbers tested were small, no direct link to Ritalin
was found and genetic damage and repair happens all the time. But given the
widespread use of the drug in children, she says, governments and the
private sector need to further investigate.
Overall, Davis believes the growing awareness of global climate change is
sparking more concern about environmental health.
.
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