Jump to content

Artificial World---A connection?


lilyjohn

Recommended Posts

One thing that is made clearer everyday by most of the people on this board is the fact that lung cancer is not just a smokers disease. Also that something else had to come into play that is causing so many young women who have never smoked to get lung cancer.

I just read the post that Elaine made on thoughts and I see this is a day of deep thought. I want to share mine with all of you.

We all know that once smoking was linked to lung cancer most research into other causes stopped. The fact that more women are smoking helped link it to the increase in lung cancer.

Another fact is that other things happened at the same time as the increase in smoking by women. It became more fashionable to be skinny so artificial sweeteners became more common. It also became popular to choose the size of our families so artificial birth control became the norm. Could either of those things have a connection?

We live in a world that is becoming more artificial every day. Competition to succeed causes stress and to relieve that stress we take a pill (usually a chemical substance). We don't get enough natural vitamins because of the rush of everyday life. Fast foods have made us turn to a pill to get the vitamins that we no longer get naturally. We spend less time in the sun because the sun rays have been linked to skin cancer.(Could that be because the time we spend outside is idle time with very few clothes on?) No natural vitamin C so we seek it from a bottle of pills.

Now suppose we decide that it is time to get what we need naturally. We drink milk and eat dairy products from cows that are fed feed that has chemicals to increase the amount of milk that they give. Those same cows eat grain that is grow using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We buy fruits and vegetables to help us eat right but again we meet up with more chemicals. The same as the food grown for cows and other animals applies to food grown for human consumption, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Wax is used on many fruits and vegetables to make them look more appealing and keep the bugs off. Every where we turn we meet up with chemicals that replace natural resources. The air we breathe and the water we drink are contaminated. How do we treat the contaminated water to make it drinkable? We use chemicals!

This can lead to some pretty frightening thoughts. We are spoiled to the easy way of doing things. Our recreation is very seldom high energy outdoor fun. Most of it we get from a television or video game. Our life style is leading us in a direction that becomes more unhealthy every day.

There are two things that really make all of this frightening. One is that our world economy depends on all of the things that are harmful or artificial. The other thing is something I think of because of my beliefs. The Bible tells us that when God created man he gave us all we need to survive. That leads me to believe that there is a natural cure for everything. Every day more species disappear. How many natural cures are being lost?

As for tobacco I have another thought on that too. I have read that there is a worm that can destroy a tobacco plant over night. Do we really believe that tobacco farmers have hundreds of workers on standby to pick those worms off by hand? I think not. They use the same old standby. Chemicals. When we smoke it is those chemicals that are going into our lungs. Could they be the real culprit not the tobacco itself?

Speaking of tobacco. Is everyone convinced that when the taxes are raised on a pack of cigarettes it is to try to get people to quit smoking? Could it just be that they want the extra money to make up for the taxes lost when people do quit smoking? Every state along with the federal government are looking for ways to balance their budgets. The money raised in tobacco taxes can go a long way to help with those budgets. We already know that it is not going to help lung cancer dispite the fact that lung cancer was the main reason that the courts decided to award payment to the states.

Well this started out as a way to try to connect lung cancer to other things besides smoking. I feel that I may have succeeded in that effort but it sure doesn't make me feel good when I look at the whole picture and see just how hard of a battle lies ahead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can only say that I'm with you on this one. I agree one hundred percent. No one can say for sure all the things that can change a cell and turn it cancerous. I think depression and anxiety can also create changes at the cell level. We don't have the answers and the doctors and scientist don't either. Smoking was the first thing to come to light and they all ran with it. I think it is a whole lot more involved than that. My best to you. Nancy O.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lillian,

Here's another thought for you:

When I lived in Alaska, I worked in an oil refinery. I was in charge of an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) data base. An MSDS lists the uses, hazards, ingredients, etc. of a product. I entered the information for every product that WE produced and for all the products used in making the products. One thing that I typed over an over was that the petroleum was a CARCINOGEN - people working in oil change places that did not wear protective clothing or wash immediately upon contact were at higher risk of cancer...

Okay, petroleum IS a carcinogen, shown to cause cancer in people and other lab rats... Now, think about what ARE petroleum products - oil, jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, asphalt, PLASTIC...

Next thought - all those "unhealthy" foods OR healthy foods, for that matter...when we chop up a bunch of carrots and make carrot sticks for a healthy snack, we store them in plastic bags in the refrigerator... Many people heat microwaveable foods on styrofoam plates (remember how they melt)... We drink from those fast food cups (even if it's water) and they are coated with plastic...and the Big Macs used to come in styrofoam containers...

Oh, keep following that thread! From the cradle, babies drink out of plastic bottles because it's "safer" than glass...children are given sippie-cups that are plastic, plastic bowls, plastic utensils, plastic toys...

Just kinda makes ya wonder if we should all become Amish and shun modern day conveniences, raise our own cows, veggies, children (that said with sarcasm, day care takes that responsibility away, as well), churn our own butter, bring religion back to DAILY life, not weekly (if that), lose the cars, computers, ELECTRICITY and RUNNING WATER (NO, thank you very much)...

I had heard about a study of eating habits and health. Seems that about 150 years ago, our ancestors ate diets high in animal fat, gravy, potatoes, etc. Question was about heart disease and a high fat diet...researches studied the Amish as their lifestyle is SO MUCH like those of people 150 years ago. The results? It ISN'T the food that's so bad for you, these people were HEALTHY and eating "bad stuff"...it's the lack of exercise! They're up before dawn to milk the cows, bake the bread, chop wood, etc., etc. The average Amish man walked over 8000 steps per week (I KNOW I don't walk that much)... Enough to make a person stop and think - in the drive-thru line at McDonald's grabbing a quick burger while taxiing the children and multi-tasking with work commitments, shopping details, etc. Every now and then I think it might be nice to not have to be in the rat race - and then I remember the electricity/running water thing and the outhouse at midnight and I'm okay with another day at my computer...ya know? :wink:

I'm watchin' the plastic use, but beyond that, unless I want to run my own little farm, I'm not really in control of where my "USDA Beef" comes from (well, not on MY budget, anyway). Personally, I don't think I could eat anything I "raised" - although at times my boy looks mighty tasty...in a stringy kinda way. And I don't use artificial sweetners - that's been shown to cause cancer in lab rats, and I've become one of those! LOL

Take care,

Becky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your responses. Becky I agree with you that none of us would want to go back to a time when none of the modern conviences were available. I have lived that way because as a child we were very poor. In many ways those days were much better because despite the hours spent working just to survive people had more time for each other. In those days priorities were family and survival not convenience and accumulating things. Even if we never attended church on a regular basis we knew that God existed and there were reminders everywhere.

I believe that most of the major problems in this country started when we removed God from our everyday life and put money and power in His place and in the place of family togetherness. Most of all we have become a country of people who look for the easy way out of any situation. Now the easy way has in many ways become the hard way so we search for still another easier way. I believe that sometimes we have to do it the hard way or else we forget that some things really are worth working for or waiting for.

I do agree with you about the plastics and other products that are oil based. Living in Louisiana I saw several areas where all kinds of cancer seemed to be increasing at an alarming rate. As you know Louisiana is a very large oil producer. Most of the states economy is tied to the industry.

The main point that I wanted to put across is that there could be any number of reasons that lung cancer as well as others are increasing. There are more reasons for that than just smoking, asbestos and radon. A cure may be a simple as one small thing or it may be a series of small life style changes. Those could be a proventative. Most people never put real effort into changing their life style until threatened with a serious illness so the changes don't always work. In the modern world most of those changes would be nearly imposible because we no longer control our invirnment. I just think that there will never be any progress until there is more research into the causes. You have to know where it comes from to hit it before it gets where it is heading.

All of the things that we have mentioned could be factors but artificial sweetners and birth control coinside with the rise in smoking increases by women. I think that makes it a good place to start but will anyone ever seriouslly look into that? I doubt it because like oil products there is just too much money envolved to risk exposure. I really do believe in the saying "money is the root of all evil" just the desire to have it and control it is the real culprit not the money itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.