This is a lengthy post but well worth your time, I promise! The President’s Cancer Panel has public records of their meetings and summaries of recommendations they make to the President. It is all funded by The National Cancer Institute. They have given recommendations on how to reduce your risk of cancer, it is hundreds of pages so I summarized them for you. Spoiler alert, you are going to want t…o run away to the woods to live off the land, but don’t do that…a bear would probably eat you. Just find the ways you can reduce your exposure and pass the info on to a friend:
1) Remove shoes before entering your house and wash work clothes separately from the other family laundry. Especially important if you have children or pets that spend a lot of time near the ground.
2) Drink filtered tap water rather than bottled water. Public tap water is better regulated than bottled water, but tap water still needs to be filtered.
3) Store and carry water in stainless steel, glass, or BPA- and phthalate-free containers. Microwave food and beverages in ceramic or glass instead of plastic containers.
4) Choose food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Wash conventionally grown produce to remove residues.
5) Eat free-range meat that has not been exposed to antibiotics or growth hormones, if it is available. Minimize consumption of processed, charred, and well-done meats.
6) The Household Products Database is a resource to help make informed decisions about the products that are safe for the home.
7) Properly dispose of medicine, household chemicals, paints, and other materials to minimize drinking water and soil contamination.
Choose products made with non-toxic substances or environmentally safe chemicals. Don’t use pesticides in your yard, they are contaminating drinking water supplies.
8) Turn off lights and electrical devices when not in use. Drive a fuel-efficient car, bike or walk when possible, or use public transportation.
9) Try not to keep a cellular phone near your body for prolonged periods of time. Wear a headset when making a call, text instead of calling, and keep calls brief. Don’t keep your phone in your pocket.
10) Home buyers should conduct a radon test in any home they are considering purchasing. If you already own a home, periodically get the radon tested. If the levels are higher than recommended, there are ways to remedy the situation it looks like the prices range from $500-$1200).
11) To reduce exposure to radiation from medical sources, patients should discuss with their health care providers the need for medical tests or procedures that involve radiation exposure. Key considerations include personal history of radiation exposure, the expected benefit of the test, and alternative ways of obtaining the same information. In addition, to help limit cumulative medical radiation exposure, individuals can create a record of all imaging or nuclear medicine tests received and, if known, the estimated radiation dose for each test. (It looks like MRI, ultrasound testing is mostly a better option. Some CT scans provide more radiation than nuclear fallout survivors have received).
12) Wear protective clothing and sunscreens when outdoors and avoid exposure when the sunlight is most intense.
The following chemicals were also identified as needing stronger regulations: formaldehyde (found in furniture and building materials), BPA (found in plastics), phthalates and parabens (found in cosmetics and baby toys) and nanotechnology products (toxicity has not been studied in depth).One thing I’ve learned about government recommendations is that they take a LONG time to be acted upon and there are way too many regulatory agencies that don’t communicate with each other. We can’t rely on the government to protect us from cancer, because clearly as their meetings indicate, they know they are doing a poor job. Something gets missed between the recommendations and when laws become enacted in Congress.
BUT consumer demand can make a huge impact, so vote with your dollars!
Love you guys. Don’t let your insides fall apart.Here is a link to the report http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf
