Oestrogen – the killer in our midst
This new book was a really big seller in Australia – I should have known that pesticides and xenoestrogens were a hot topic down under. Increasingly, oestrogen is being found to drive many cancers – like non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, brain tumours and more. But, it’s not just a question of increasing cancer risk. There’s earlier puberty, lowered sperm counts, larger benign prostates, the rise of endometriosis etc. The World Health Organisation asked governments across the world to ban certain oestrogen-like chemicals from everyday products, but this urgent request has fallen on deaf ears. But the truth is the list would be huge – it only starts with BPA, phthalates, parabens, toluene, xylene, DDT, Lindane and now the worst of all ….Glyphosate in Roundup.
The good news is that there are plenty of steps you can take TODAY to cut excessive oestrogen from your life – whether it be the human hormone, or toxic chemicals in the world that surrounds you. This book even has a check list.
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Professor Gail Prins and her team at the University of Illinois, Chicago have shown that exposure to the chemical BPA in the womb, increases the risk of prostate cancer later in life. Experiments using mice showed that feeding the animals the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) almost tripled their risk of cancer or pre-cancerous changes. Deliberately, the doses of BPA provided were in proportion to those seen seen in pregnant women. Only recently the World Health Organisation called for Governments to ban BPA which is widely used to soften plastics. It is a proven xenoestrogen, a chemical that not only mimics the action of oestrogen, but by-passes the hormone defence systems of the body. The chemical is now banned from babies´ feeding bottles in the EU. |
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SUNSCREENS BEWARE ….Oxybenzone, just another ingredient to avoid As regular readers will know CANCERactive has long held that ´Sunshine is good for you; it´s burning that´s bad´. Sunshine on the fat layers under the skin causes vitamin D production which has been shown as an essential preventative aid for many diseases. But slip, slop, slap type campaigns have been the official norm for a decade or more to the health detriment of many. Slapping on the suncream may not be in your best interests. In the CANCERactive SAFE SUN campaign we talk about the research behind melanoma and skin cancer 96 per cent of people with melanoma did not have enough vitamin D in their bodies indicating they hadn´t had enough sunshine; and half of the melanomas were in places the sun don´t shine on, according to US research. So we looked at what might be causing the rise in skin cancers and research points a number of fingers at suncream ingredients, preservatives and even the plastic bottles. For example an ingredient has already caught the FDA´s attention: a synthetic version of a vitamin A derivative, retinyl palmitate. Then there are oestrogen mimics, like the preservative parabens, (PABA has been banned in certain countries), or BPA from some plastic bottles especially if they have been lying in the sun. Then there is the ingredient Oxybenzone. A recent study (Kunisue T, Chen Z et al, Environmental Science Technology, April 17, 2012 ) has added to previous concerns. In this study Oxybenzone was linked (along with other oestrogen mimics and oestrogen) to increases in endometriosis. This is a disease where layers of the womb overgrow and may extend into the abdomen. Severe cramping during periods is one sign. It is increasingly common in young women. The research showed that women with higher levels of an oxybenzone by-product in their urine had a 65 per cent increased risk of endometriosis. |