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The Strong Link Between Cancer and Pesticide Exposure

You should have no doubt in your mind about the toxicity of pesticides, especially after reading this fascinating piece from the Globe and Mail about the specific poisoning of children in a farming community of Kensington on the western tip of Canada's Prince Edward Island.

Interestingly enough, no one was aware of the community-wide problem until one doctor who had relocated northward from the United States to the island spotted it shortly after he arrived. The evidence: Incidents of lymphoma, myeloid leukemia and osteosarcoma that would typically appear in patients living near a toxic waste site. Adults weren't spared either, with three cases of brain cancer reported.

The big tipoff, however, was the number of bone-related cancers (two) in a community of some 14,000. By the numbers, the number of Canadian children who are diagnosed yearly with osteosarcoma amounted to only three or four per million. Later, scientific studies discovered Kensington registered the second-highest readings for pesticides in the country and that the entire island community is exposed to airborne pesticides during the summer.

Adding to the problem: Island farmers grow potatoes, one of a handful of vegetables containing the highest levels of pesticides.

Globe and Mail.com December 6, 2006






 
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Comment on This Article Community Comments (4)
 
 
Posted On Dec 07, 2006

i live in a farming community and we have interestly high autistic rates... assumably from the pestisides.

in australia, and i believe the same hold true for the u.s., that companies that produce pesisides and chemicals are basically autonomous... which is alarming, because they're allowed to use chemicals that cause cancer! they may as well be classified as biological weapons!


 
andrewlee
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 11/2006
andrewlee  
 
 
 
Posted On Dec 07, 2006

I think this article is very interesting, as I now live in a small farming community.  However, when I was born my parents lived over a toxic waste dump.  This was not known at the time.  I wonder what exposure to these chemicals has done to my body over the years?  I can see what the effects of it have done to my son.

mmc88121


 
mmc88121
Moderator User Moderator User, Joined On 11/2006
mmc88121  
 
 
 
Posted On Dec 10, 2006

The Mercola site has many many articles on how to prevent cancer. I have some important questions to ask though...

Would you say following all the advice on the site will guaranteeably prevent it? I think it is impossible to prevent ALL free radical damage, odds are some will occur (even from internal metabolism).

However, since it can be lessened, it can on average put off the time until the free radical dice roll hits a cancer mutation.

What I want to know is, do you believe that even if a cell does become cancerous, following your advice will always somehow cause that cell to die, and not multiply into a tumour and take over the system?

Furthermore, what does the Mercola site advice to people already having cancer? What treatments are good, which are bad? I'd think there would be a certain point where the body's internal healing mechanisms, even if fully restored, simply wouldn't keep up with a disease it simply had no reason to evolve adaptations against.


 
tyciol
Users with negative points NoviceUser, Joined On 10/2006
tyciol  
 
 
 
Posted On Dec 14, 2006
If you go to almost any search engine, and type in "Prince Edward Island pesticide fish kill", you will find articles about how rainfall has washed pesticides from farmers' fields into streams, resulting in the death of hundreds of fish within 24 hours. This has happened on numerous occasions, not just a few "isolated incidents". P.E.I. is a beautiful place, has less than 140,000 permanent residents, but I haven't been there since 1999, and don't plan to ever return.

 
Laserman
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 6/2006
Laserman  
 
 
 
 
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