Another unintended consequent of the Hot Air Cult's frenzy to deny us our right to freedom.
Posted on 02/22/2008 7:01:01 AM PST by khnyny
Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal darkness prevails, according to an unusual study that overlaid satellite images of Earth onto cancer registries.
The finding adds credence to the hypothesis that exposure to too much light at night can raise the risk of breast cancer by interfering with the brain's production of a tumor-suppressing hormone.
"By no means are we saying that light at night is the only or the major risk factor for breast cancer," said Itai Kloog, of the University of Haifa in Israel, who led the new work. "But we found a clear and strong correlation that should be taken into consideration."
Scientists have known for years that rats raised in cages where lights are left on for much of the night have higher cancer rates than those allowed to sleep in darkness. And epidemiological studies of nurses, flight attendants and others who work at night have found breast cancer rates 60 percent above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for.
On the basis of such studies, an arm of the World Health Organization announced in December its decision to classify shift work as a "probable carcinogen." That put the night shift in the same health-risk category as exposure to such toxic chemicals as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The mechanism of such a link, if real, remains mysterious, but many scientists suspect that melatonin is key. Secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, the hormone helps prevent tumor formation. The body produces melatonin primarily at night, and levels drop precipitously in the presence of light, especially light in the blue part of the spectrum produced in quantity by...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"Abraham Haim, a University of Haifa chronobiologist involved in the study, said the findings raise questions about the recent push to switch to energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, which suppress melatonin production more than conventional incandescent bulbs. "This may be a disaster in another 20 years," Haim said, "and you won't be able to reverse what we did by mistake." He called for more research before policies favoring fluorescent lights are implemented, and for more emphasis on using less light at night."
It’s more likely the cause is the link between city lights and the chances of being a ‘rat.
Ok, that’s it. My next house is going to be lit by gaslamp. First it’s the lousy spectrum in fluorescents, then the mercury, then there’s the cancer risk, and then the cost. So, in the name of making a miniscule reduction in energy production requirements, we’re going to introduce substantially more mercury to the biosphere, increase the risk of dying from cancer, and pull money away from more useful purchases in the process.
“...you won’t be able to reverse what we did by mistake.”
This is the fitting epitaph for so many liberal, nanny state “fixes” for their perceived crises. We always wind up with more serious problems than the ones they needless worried about. And the msm is their co-conspirator in this very vicious circle.
Isn’t it simply more likely that there are more cancer-causing environmental factors in cities where there are lots of lights and lots of poor people, then out in the rural areas where there aren’t many lights?
I mean, how much exposure to women get to bright lights at night anyway? Are they all walking around the street all night basking in the glow of the street lamps?
It’s the law of unintended consequences. We attempt to fix one problem and inadvertently create another. Man’s knowledge base and understanding of just about everything in this world and surrounding universe is quite limited. In other words, there is more that we don’t know than what we do know.
I found the findings concerning the effects of shift work on the body to be particularly interesting and conclusive.
Maybe it’s simply because liberal women who take lots of legal and illegal drugs, drink lots of alcohol, and have lots of abortions tend to live in brightly lit cities? ;)
No. Read the article more carefully.
Apples and oranges.
You can believe whatever you want, but the study of melatonin and its effects on tumor growth are well documented.
If you’re curious, here’s a link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?indexed=google&rid=eurekah.section.22799
Another unintended consequent of the Hot Air Cult's frenzy to deny us our right to freedom.
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