My dear friend Jane Heaven just told me that her friend Yolanda Bain, a San Francisco yoga instructor, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last month and will be undergoing surgery in a few days. Friends have put together a website inviting people to be a part of Yolanda’s “healing team.” A very welcome way one can participate is by making a donation on the site to help defray her looming financial costs.

Yolanda is young, exercises regularly, eats well, doesn’t smoke or drink too much, and has a air of serenity that no doubt stems from her devotion to Buddhism. Why has she gotten cancer? I heard an interview recently on Fresh Air that might have the answer. To quote from the show’s introduction, “Epidemiologist and environmental-health expert Devra Davis writes in The Secret History of the War on Cancer that Americans have spent $40 billion in a war on cancer, fighting the wrong battles with the wrong weapons against the wrong enemies. She says the effort has focused on detecting, treating, and curing the disease, instead of looking at what causes it. Her book argues that powerful economic interests [to wit, the chemical industry] have steered money toward research on treatment rather than looking at how their own products may be causing the disease. Davis says we’re surrounded by potentially cancer-causing products we ought to be paying more attention to.”

To think that we are unknowingly exposing ourselves to carcinogens every day when we clean our bathtubs or put on sunscreen – to avoid getting skin cancer! – is alarming, to say the least. Then to realize the American government and the industries that make such products are aware of the potential hazards is appalling. Simply put, companies are free to use almost any ingredient they wish without having to list them and the FDA does not require companies to test products for safety before they are sold.

Here are a few of the products Davis warns against. First of all, never ever consume anything with the sugar-substitute aspartame in it. In an example of how the government colludes with Corporate America, Davis explained how aspertame only got approved by the government when Donald Rumsfeld became the CEO of Searle Laboratories in between his “service” for the government. After looking into this myself on the Web, I found a wonderful blog Local Forage where I read the following: “Searle holds the patent to and manufactures aspartame. For the 16 years prior to 1981, the FDA had denied the petition for approval of aspartame due to researchers concluding that it induces brain tumors and is neurotoxic. In 1981, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President of the U.S. As part of Reagan’s transition team, Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle, handpicked Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner. In one of his first official acts, Hayes overruled the Public Board of Inquiry, ignored the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and approved NutraSweet (aspartame) for dry products. Hull later left after allegations of impropriety.”

Davis says that aspartame is “a ticking time bomb.” Brain cancer can take from 30 to 40 years to develop. She is very concerned about generations of young children with vulnerable developing brains and pregnant women who are consuming aspartame regularly, and what this will mean when they reach their 60’s and 70’s. If you had just two diet sodas a day, you would ingest 400 milligrams of aspertame. As Davis points out, people will eat chocolate cake and down in with a diet-Coke, as a way of not taking in extra calories. I used to do that when I ate pizza! I thought it was pretty clever at the time, but fortunately I gave up all sodas, diet or otherwise, a long time ago. (For more information about the dangers of aspartame, see Russell Blaylock’s Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.)

Another alarming concern is the possible connection between brain cancer and cell phones. Davis says basically your head becomes an antenna for a cell phone when it’s held against the ear. Heavy users of cell phones – especially the older generation cell phones – are aware of the heat the phone generates. The industry’s own data show the cell phone’s microwave signal penetrates 1” into the brain, warming it. Davis says she cannot say that cell phones are harmful, but neither can she say they’re safe. Studying brain cancer is extremely difficult because it takes so long to develop, so there is no way to know what this means for the long-term. In the meantime, many countries recommend against children using cell phones. India now bans the sale of cell phones to children. Davis is “very very concerned” about the aggressive marketing of cell phones to children.

Then there are cleaning products. After hearing Davis talk about them, I am worried there is a toxic wasteland under my kitchen sink. Basically she says not to use any product that says “Use in Good Ventilation.” Plus, look out for the old Skull & Crossbones symbol. Other good rules are buy the product with the least number of ingredients and always look for a valid Green symbol. Davis says also that you can make many of your own cleansers. She buys baking soda in 10 lb increments and uses it as a substitute for Comet. I read on Local Forage that Tang is a great toilet bowl cleaner and might not even kill your cat if it gets into the toilet bowl during cleaning time.

I’m really into this whole subject now and will be posting more after some further research. But first, I’m going to look up how to say “baking soda” in French and try to figure out where I can buy it in bulk here. As the French say, Bon Courage, mes amis!

Categories: Environment
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