Cause of the Cancer

Every day is a different emotion. Mostly been ignoring this all and sloughing it off like it is nothing to everyone. But when alone, I do go through other things. I guess partly because am winding down my 20 year job this week and some worrying about what the "next life" will be, I do not want to think about this other elephant in the room. But more the last few days I have pondered how did I get this cancer? (other than my karma which I know is the overall answer!)

They say this is not a common cancer and so curable, but then if I have had none of the 5 typical reasons they say one gets this cancer, why do I have it? Plus, lately it seems I am running into more and more people diagnosed with odd cancers or health problems - even some dying too much lately. We are not THAT old!

So, today I was reading my latest email from Mother Jones magazine and came upon this. I have just copied a little of it, the paragraphs that got me going, but the title links to full article. Notice how this one chemical is BANNED IN EUROPE but not here! (and we are so "developed'?) I spent a few years cleaning houses once a long time ago. I spent 10 years in a house down stream from a metal gear making plant.... These kinds of cancers take a long time to develop - so maybe I got this from cleaning products!

"Which Household Cleaners Contain Secret Toxic Ingredients?

"What we do know: Many common ingredients pose risks both to humans and the environment. Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs), which are used as "surfactants" to make cleaning solutions spread over a surface smoothly, are an endocrine disruptor and are banned in Europe."

So I followed the link describing what an "endocrine disruptor" is, since my whole health program is now managed by an Endocrinologist. Here are the clips that got me:

"Nonylphenol is a toxic xenobiotic[*] compound classified as an endocrine disrupter capable of interfering with the hormonal system of numerous organisms. .... Nonylphenol ethoxylates [in the cleaning products rinsed down our drains] reach sewage treatment works in substantial quantities where they biodegrade into several by-products including nonylphenol. Due to its physical–chemical characteristics, such as low solubility and high hydrophobicity, nonylphenol accumulates in environmental compartments that are characterised by high organic content, typically sewage sludge and river sediments, where it persists. The occurrence of nonylphenol in the environment is clearly correlated with anthropogenic activities such as wastewater treatment, landfilling and sewage sludge recycling. ...

"The impacts of nonylphenol in the environment include feminization of aquatic organisms, decrease in male fertility and the survival of juveniles at concentrations as low as 8.2 μg/l. Due to the harmful effects of the degradation products of nonylphenol ethoxylates in the environment, the use and production of such compounds have been banned in EU countries and strictly monitored in many other countries such as Canada and Japan."

and, I see these are still included in laundry softeners, detergents and other cleaning products claiming in America they did not ban because, basically, our sewage treatment plants are so good. Yeah, well I wonder, what WAS that horrible looking yellowish crap that piled up into the river near my old home in Palmyra? I wonder more and more about these kinds of things since I found the 10 years I lived there with my daughter and I thought I was giving her a "good healthy place" to live, in reality, the half acre of grass yard was what gave her the horrible colds and sicknesses all those year. What - may the water have done this to me?

*xenobiotic: a chemical compound (as a drug, pesticide, or carcinogen that is foreign to a living organism