The Ever Growing List of Carcinogens

Preface- These blogs are meant to be in good fun.  I have been fortunate that none of my loved ones have been effected by cancer.  I could see how this topic could strike a nerve with some if they have lost someone important to them due to cancer.  I'm not trying to be insensitive towards anyone.  As I've said, if I can get a chuckle out of you then I will consider it a success, and as long as you don't strike your monitor cursing my name, then I have not failed.

I went online the other day and one of the first headlines I read on my homepage was "WHO (World Health Organization) links pickles to cancer".  It certainly got my attention, especially since I was two bites into my turkey sandwich, which had many pickles on it.  As it turned out, remote parts of China and South Korea have seen a large number of incidents of esophageal cancer in the last 50 years.  The people in these regions rely on eating pickled vegetables for a portion of the year, and it is the canning process used over there that is leading to the carcinogens being produced.  So you need not dash to the fridge and toss out the Vlasic's, because the pickling process used in the US is different, and until further notice, safe.  But kudos to the person who wrote the headline.  You almost got me to spit out my food, which really takes a lot.

The link between pickled vegetables and cancer is just another addition to a seemingly never ending list of carcinogens.  Seems like everyday there's a report of a new hazard.  We all knew that smoking was bad, just as standing in front of a microwave is, or swimming in a river that's been polluted with industrial waste is, or chewing on a battery is, etc.  But just last week the WHO reported a possible link between cellphones and cancer.  I'm hardly surprised by this.  There's got to be some pretty funky stuff inside to get those little things to do all that they do.  Our advances in technology may be our downfall.  All those satellites in space have to be beaming more than text messages and Jersey Shore (also harmful to our if you ask me) down upon us.  Computers can't be much better.  They have similar technology.  But these things have become a part of our normal lives, and we only go forward. So I won't rush to invest the family savings in a company that manufacturers landline telephones.  And it will probably be only a matter of time before one company features the "Chemo Therapy" app, thus solving the problem it has created.

I've heard a few people say drinking out of aluminum cans causes cancer.  While I'm not a chemist, I can understand  the science in that one too.  Certain materials pose certain hazards.  What surprises me is that in the cut throat business of soda sales, not one company has abandoned aluminum packaging altogether as a way to be more appealing than the competition.   Think about the ad campaigns we'd see if one company solely sold their product in plastic - "Drink Pepsi. Live Pepsi.......no seriously, Coke will kill you".

And then there was the day I saw on CNN that there is a link between oral sex and cancer (imagine being in that study group).  I saw this report briefly so I do not know which scientists did the research, if it was conducted by scientists at all, or if its just propaganda from Reverend Shaw Moore from Beaumont (Footloose reference if you didn't catch it).  I did not hear whether you were more at risk giving or receiving, but 93% of men said they are willing to take their chances.  This whole report did strike me as odd.  It just seemed kind of random to me.  Cancer can be caused by prolonged exposure to carcinogens and/or habitual unhealthy behavior.  What if the people in these reports are just a big group of lonely men, who when questioned by their doctors if they have any unusual habitual behaviors, get embarrassed, and lie.  Perhaps when they hear the C word, they are overcome with emotion, and denial instantly takes over.   Maybe they've all been telling their doctors it must be from all the oral sex they had with their girlfriends, who the doctor wouldn't know, because they live in Canada, or at least out of state.  It sure would sound better than sitting in their basement for 5 hours 6 nights a week with their laptop, a bluetooth cellphone attached to their ear so they can talk nerd-smack to their friends as the play "Wizard's Revenge" online, drinking a several cans of soda, and eating pickled vegetables.

And with that, I have just realized I've been sitting here with my laptop for quite sometime.  No links yet, but I want to stay ahead of the game.  Plus there's a BOTTLED beer in the fridge with my name on it.