Can Everyday Things Cause Cancer?
Following on from the Foundations article on copper chrome arsenate treated timber ‘Poison sold to the ignorant by the uneducated’ this feature suggests a similar course of action be adopted; the ‘Precautionary Principle’ for a range of toxic chemicals that are in everyday products we are needlessly exposed to without our knowledge that may result in serious health issues. Alternet May 20th 2010 There’s a stigma that accompanies those who question the safety of familiar things. But as cancer rates rise, maybe we ought to be asking more questions. There is something about the familiar that makes us assume it is safe. Rachel Carson observed this nearly 50 years ago in Silent Spring, when she exposed the dangers of toxins in the pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers being used to grow the food we eat. There is also something about pointing to the potential danger in potential danger in familiar things that can make one come across as a kook — paranoid, fringe, alarmist. Indeed, most o
