My list of non-food related things that cause cancer.

[Mark Nederland]

We all want to live long and healthy. It would be a shame to watch our diets and then still live unhealthy. I have a list of things outside food that I think will cause cancer and need to be looked at also in daily life, some are very obvious. I am not sure about others. I am putting it here to hopefully get some feedback. 

Combustion in the house: use never or minimize: wood/gas stoves!, matches, candles! and incense!. 
Combustion outside: use never or minimize: car/scooter/motor!, airplanes, chainsaw.
Substances:  use never or minimize and buy biological: shampoo/soap, toothpaste!, waxed flos, deodorant, sunscreen, hair-dye, make up, shaving cream, non-stick pans, cleaning agents, detergent, foam mattresses, copy machines, lenses fluid and washing-up liquid!.
Activities: do never or minimize: smoking!, sunbathing, being up at night, drinking hot liquids!, vacuuming, renovating, painting, work in office building.
Stuff: never use new or wash or air to minimize fumes: books/magazines, clothes!, pillows/bedding/matrasses!, car, electrical stuff (let run when not in room), furniture, just painted things.
House: use as much as possible organic materials and keep ventilating always. Get rid of asbestos and glass wool. Live outside the city away from factories!
Avoid as much as possible: X-rays, implants (also in teeth), stress, pesticides.
Check: drinkingwater quality, bloodvalues.

Edit dec 2019: 

Clothes: polyester realeases micro plastics which is harmful for humans, too.

Tea bags: Several tea bag brands use polypropylene, a sealing plastic, to keep the tea bags from falling apart. Every time you drink tea that is suppose to be healthy you are drinking plastic.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Mark Nederland

[Gordo]

I agree with a lot of these, but others I've never heard about, might be nice to hypertext each one to a reputable source backing up the concern.  I would think the health risk of not using tooth paste or vacuuming are higher than using/doing these. Not using a car is not too practical, but yea driving in traffic and breathing dirty air probably isn't too good for you but is it any worse than living in the country and breathing air filled with pollen? Indoors you are pretty much breathing dust/skin/mold spores constantly (put a petri dish out on your counter/table and watch what grows) - the human body is pretty good at dealing with such contaminants.   Is there any evidence that living in a hardcore HEPA filter "clean room" environment actually improvers human health or longevity?   Getting sun exposure also has pretty well established health benefits, as long as you don't do it to the point of burning.

[Mark Nederland]

Thanks Gordo for the reply! I love your website. 

Gordo: might be nice to hypertext each one to a reputable source backing up the concern.

Mark: I agree but I don't have them at hand. This list I have accumulated over the years from unreliable sources as newspaper articles and my common sense. For me this is enough to be careful around them. If you really need them I should put in some time. Some of them are easy checked on line. I will explain a bit further the ones you talk about:

 Gordo: I would think the health risk of not using tooth paste or vacuuming are higher than using/doing these. 

Mark: I cannot find the article on vacuuming but basically my list is about cancer. Fine dust (don t know the name in English) causes cancer and the vacuumcleaner does not catch it but blows it out of the back. It is definitely better then leaving all dust around but I prefer hard floors that I can clean with water. Toothpaste has loads of unclear chemicals inside (just check the ingredients) and is also forbidden for children what is enough for me. As it is not meant for consumption it escapes all regulation for food but still you get amounts inside. I keep it to a minimum and use only biological and have not have any problems with my teeth. It's a shame to put so much effort in your food choices and get loads of chemicals.

Gordo: Not using a car is not too practical, but yea driving in traffic and breathing dirty air probably isn't too good for you but is it any worse than living in the country and breathing air filled with pollen?

Mark: Not using a car is not practical but weighing all my food all day is not either 🙂 I do have a car though but keep use limited and would not want to be in it everyday. An electrical car helps by the way. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310466891_Air_quality_inside_motor_vehicles'_cabins_A_review

Gordo: Indoors you are pretty much breathing dust/skin/mold spores constantly (put a petri dish out on your counter/table and watch what grows) - the human body is pretty good at dealing with such contaminants.

Mark: I agree on this. But my list is purely about cancer and and the ultra fine dust that accumulates in the home causes cancer in my opinion. Also the chemical fumes from paint, glue in furnitures and well basically everything inside the house that is not organic. Especially homes with new products or after construction have high levels of for example formaldehyde. Inhaling these all day will in my opinion not help too live long.

Gordo: Getting sun exposure also has pretty well established health benefits, as long as you don't do it to the point of burning.

Mark: I agree.

 

[mccoy]

I would add a list from the most reputable source: IARC. They publish monographs on carcinogenic substances. For example, the monography on herbicides and pesticides.

https://monographs.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono112-10.pdf

Quote

6. Evaluation 6.1 Cancer in humans There is limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate. A positive association has been observed for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 6.2 Cancer in experimental animals There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate. 6.3 Overall evaluation Glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).

But then, we should know the environmental concentrations, or local concentrations on foods. This is close to impossible. also, we should aware of some reccomendations like the threshold level values (TLV) of the ACGIH or EPA environmental reccomandations.

If done in a scientific way, it's not such a simple duty as it would seems.

Edited July 8, 2019 by mccoy