Health Scares Ahead

NY Sun ^ | January 3, 2007 | Elizabeth Whelan

[neverdem]

Public-health "advocates" have to rally popular sentiment and political support to make progress on the long list of foods and consumer products that they want to see banned because of purported health hazards. They issue regular press releases about "toxins," "poisons," and "carcinogens" and then frequently follow up with calls for regulatory action.

We've had our share of health scares for the past 60 years, starting with the great cranberry scare of 1959 and then the saccharin scare of 1977 and the Alar apple scare of 1989. All these scares were based on reports that the chemicals in question — aminotriazole in cranberry sauce and daminozide in the Alar apple — caused cancer when fed in high doses to laboratory animals. Not to be outdone, 2006 had its share of unfounded health scares:

— In San Francisco activists issued warnings about chemicals —namely traces of Bisphenol A and phthalates — in plastic posing a cancer risk. The scare "worked," as in December, San Francisco banned a whole line of children's toys and gear, including pacifiers, rubber duckies, soft covered books, and car seats.

— The Environmental Working Group complained to the Food and Drug Administration that soft drinks were contaminated with carcinogenic benzene and posed a risk of leukemia, particularly in children

— The same activist group issued a report asserting that the chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products — including nail polish, deodorants, shampoos, and shaving creams — pose a risk of cancer and should be replaced with more "natural" items.

— California advocates sounded alarms about the cancer-causing effects of a long-used dry cleaning chemical, "perc," and have called for a ban on it in that state.

— Environmentalists, who have been trying to ban Teflon for years, heightened their rhetoric by claiming that the no-stick coating...

[FairOpinion]

If only people had common sense and see this:

"Further, those trumpeting the scare did not take into account the extremely low level of exposure that was the reality whereas scientists' conclusions are based on high levels of exposure. For centuries scientists have been guided by the toxicological principle that only the dose makes the poison. The scaremongers probably never will learn this because they would be out of business. That is why consumers must be wary when they hear these pronouncements."

[garandgal]

I generally take such things with a grain of salt...using common sense to avoid obvious toxins; but here's a strange one for you:

The Mother of a good friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago. She went through mastectomy; chemo; radiation at a major cancer center.

One of the first things they told her to do was to switch to "natural" deodorant. Precaution, agenda, or some sort of inside knowledge? Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

[wodinoneeye]

All scientists agree (the same 'all' as per 'Global Warming' ) that :

Liberals cause Cancer.


Its a proven fact and those who disagree are dangerous deniers......


The only possible solution IS to eliminate all Liberals from our environment and legislation must be passed immediately to start decreasing the amount of Liberals significantly to make sure there is a world for future generations.

[ThePythonicCow]

Elsewhere in this article:

Instead, the ban will only cause havoc in the restaurant industry and escalate costs of doing business, all of which will be passed on to us.

That's exactly what they are trying to do.

The left is the enemy of capitalism - fighting it at every turn with whatever concerns for the environment, endangered species, the poor, the hungry, the diseased, the working man, the minority race, the female gender, the lower class, the children, the whatever they can get traction with, through more laws, more regulations, more lawsuits, more taxes, more fees, more bureaucracy, more impediments to free enterprise, free exercise of religion, free bearing of arms, big profitable business (Haliburton, Wal-Mart) ...

They keep claiming to help the weak. But what they keep doing is impeding the free, the strong, the self-reliant, the responsible, which is exactly what they intend to keep doing.

It's their religion, or what substitutes for a religion.

They are allies with Islamic Jihad, against Western Civilization.

[Jaysun]

They only get away with this because so many are ignorant. Most people hear a news report on TV or read something in the paper about this or that causing cancer and they leave it at that. They never bother to find out if the claims have merit. I guess it takes too much time and effort to do that, but if it's important to me I check it out. And in the vast majority of cases I've found that most of it is complete nonsense.

[nmh]

"One of the first things they told her to do was to switch to "natural" deodorant. Precaution, agenda, or some sort of inside knowledge? Things that make you go hmmmmm....."

It's good sense to do that.

Civilized women shave UNDER their arms, THEN apply deodorant. Aluminum chylorhydrate (spelling) is suspicious ingredient that is considered an aid to cancer. When you have just shaved under your arms there are cuts for this chemical to go in. Do it often enough and this chemcial WILL make its way into your system. What's nearby - the breast.

[Osage Orange]

Pretty soon they will "ban" the sun......

[LIConFem]

"...—namely traces of Bisphenol A and phthalates — in plastic posing a cancer risk."

Only a true San Franciscan could pronounce that word.

[Gabz]

Dr. Whelan is often a very level head when it comes to these type things. I'm just surprised she didn't have any listings from that "oh so wonderful" group, Centers for Science in the Public Interest, a group often at the forefront of these scares, most especially when it concerns anything even remotely connected to the food industry.

[Mase]

Liz Whelan, as always, is right on the mark. She coined the term Toxic Terrorist and has been fighting them, and exposing them for the frauds they are, for decades. She works hard to remind us that it's the dosage that makes the poison. If we bought into all this nonsense about toxic trace chemicals in food we'd starve ourselves to death.

[traviskicks]

bkamrk

[nascarnation]

from the broken thermometer thread, LOL

I played with blobs of mercury as a kid
lived in a house painted with leaded paints
pumped leaded gas at my high school job and worked on car brakes loaded with asbestos
and drank Cuyahoga River / Lake Erie water from birth

can you believe I'm 58 years old?
surely there's a tort lawyer out there somewhere who wants me for a class action suit.............