Friday, August 27, 2010

Chicken & Cancer

tested grilled chicken samples from several fast food chains including McDonalds & KFC
and found the presence of a carcinogenic chemical called PhIP
which is produced through the cooking process
and is a known cancer causing agent.
The group has since filed a non-profit lawsuit in response to the findings
stating that under California law warnings must be posted.

562,340 people are expected to die of cancer this year,
1/3 due to dietary factors & 30% due to tobacco.
80% of cancers on the large bowel, breast, and prostate are due to dietary factors.
So let me get this straight.... 80% of breast cancers are attributed to diet?
Ironic considering KFC runs a charity promotion called "Buckets for the Cure"
in which for every pink bucket of chicken sold they will contribute 50 cents to a group called
"Susan G. Komen for the Cure" to help fight cancer.
So by buying a bucket of chicken, you're not only contributing to cancer research,
but also to your own odds of possibly acquiring cancer. Sweet!

In a European study conducted in 2008,
excess body fat was responsible for 124,000 new cancer diagnoses.
The Scientific American in 1982 reported that:
"cancer is most frequent among those branches of the human race where carnivorous habits prevail"

Grilled chicken contains more than 10 times the amount of HCAs than grilled beef.

And then there's Arsenic, in large doses the most deadly poison.
Since the 1950's farmers have used pesticides which contain arsenic to help fight pests.
Certain plants intake the poison into their leaves, stems, and grains... particularly rice.

Poultry producers supplement chicken feed with Roxarsone,
a compound containing arsenic to help fight parasites.
The arsenic is then excreted by the fowl and becomes mixed with sawdust.
Which is in turn used as fertilizer in a repeat cycle of contamination.
These levels are exceptionally high in areas of high poultry production
such as the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia)
It may be wise to warn pregnant women who eat grilled chicken and vegetables grown in this region of the repercussions this may have on their infants long term health.

Arsenic is a carcinogen which is also found in drinking water
with levels far exceeding World Health Organization guidelines.
Long term health in relation to prenatal exposure to arsenic often results in high mortality rates.
This was discovered by studies on 32 pregnant women in Thailand exposed to high levels due to tin mining.
Troubling is the fact that levels there are roughly the same as those found in drinking water supplies in the South Western United States.
Presumably due to runoff from local farms running down the Mississippi River.

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