Cancers from Environment 'Grossly Underestimated'

[WhiteTara]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/cancers-environment-grossly-underestimated-presidential-panel/story?id=10568354

Environmental carcinogens are responsible for a far greater number of cancers than previously believed -- a fact that suggests eradicating these environmental threats should be a priority for President Obama -- according to the report of a presidential advisory panel.

"The Panel was particularly concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated," wrote the authors of the report, "Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now."

"The panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation's productivity, and devastate American lives," the report's authors wrote in a letter to President Obama.

more depressing info at link. The rates should soar from this latest environmental disaster.

[dalaigh lllama]

1. Not a big surprise, sadly

[crikkett]

2. Many people are educating themselves about environmental toxins

and removing them from their homes and workplaces.

[ensho]

3. true

nt

[Lorien]

4. Will they listen to the panel if it means cutting into corporate profits

with any kind of regulation? Doubtful.

[RufusTFirefly]

5. Causing cancer makes 'em wealthy. Treating cancer makes 'em wealthy

The business of America is business, after all.

[azul]

6. I guess you smiled when you said that.

But how can that be turned around? Make redundant jobs that thrive on illness and misery, when we seem to be desperately needing jobs?

We are in a real mess, high-stepping blindly in a minefield of chemical toxins. There is plenty of culprits and blame in this highly developed fiasco, but what we need now is actionable intelligence, and a battle plan.

This war is winnable, even though we are fighting immortal cells.

[Quantess]

8. Yeah, too bad those assholes aren't as cute as the sneetches while they rake in the money.

Somebody has to have a sense of humor about it, otherwise we'd all be chronically depressed.

[azul]

7. The return on investment in epigenetics here could be enormous:

Reprod Toxicol (2007) 0: .

A new paradigm in toxicology and teratology: Altering gene activity in the absence of DNA
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SM Reamon-Buettner, J Borlak

'Epigenetics' is a heritable phenomenon without change in primary DNA sequence. In recent years, this field has attracted much attention as more epigenetic controls of gene activities are being discovered. Such epigenetic controls ensue from an interplay of DNA methylation, histone modifications, and RNA-mediated pathways from non-coding RNAs, notably silencing RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA). Although epigenetic regulation is inherent to normal development and differentiation, this can be misdirected leading to a number of diseases including cancer. All the same, many of the processes can be reversed offering a hope for epigenetic therapies such as inhibitors of enzymes controlling epigenetic modifications, specifically DNA methyltransferases, histone deacetylases, and RNAi therapeutics. 'In utero' or early life exposures to dietary and environmental exposures can have a profound effect on our epigenetic code, the so-called 'epigenome', resulting in birth defects and diseases developed later in life. Indeed, examples are accumulating in which environmental exposures can be attributed to epigenetic causes, an encouraging edge towards greater understanding of the contribution of epigenetic influences of environmental exposures. Routine analysis of epigenetic modifications as part of the mechanisms of action of environmental contaminants is in order. There is, however, an explosion of research in the field of epigenetics and to keep abreast of these developments could be a challenge. In this paper, we provide an overview of epigenetic mechanisms focusing on recent reviews and studies to serve as an entry point into the realm of 'environmental epigenetics'.

http://www.epidna.com/showabstract.php?pmid=17596910

[mzmolly]

9. Deregulation and "smaller government" would solve this problem!

Oh wait.