Ray,

You could have easily had your OC 7 or 8 months before it was Dx'ed.

Don't overlook all those chemicals that the state of California has found to be carcinogenic -- Did my occasional use of automotive parts cleaner affect all this? Hard to tell...

Charm - please note this is from an unregulated and unverified BLOG site. Which means the information may or may not be true. Having said that, most of the things on the list, sound horrible, but you have to consider something very important about them VOLUME OF EXPOSURE. Everything in the world, if enough quantity will be bad for you. Even oxygen. So the inverse is also true, even very strong toxins, solvents etc. in micro exposure have very little impact on us. We are exposed to thousands of them at these kinds of levels everyday. We know that radiation causes cancer. thousands of people under the nuclear blst in Japan showed us that, but you willingly get in a dental chair and have X rays, RADIATION, without a second thought. This is because the volume of exposure, even though accumulative (in radiation but not necessarily in any of the things on the list) is at a level which is going to do you no harm.

I big on hammering on tobacco and the 400 carcinogens it is known to contain. Truth is that most of them are not the contributors to lung cancer. But a few of them are really bad.

So this long list on an unverified site has provided you with information which may or may not be valid, and has not even passed the test of volume of exposure bias.

Brian said....I big on hammering on tobacco and the 400 carcinogens it is known to contain. Truth is that most of them are not the contributors to lung cancer. But a few of them are really bad.

I always grew up associating lung cancer with tobacco so is there a something out there worse that tobacco re lung cancer?

Brian
Everything you point out is true. Still, I don't think Listerine is going to turn out (like in the Woody Allen film Sleeper)to be a health elixir. I'm glad you raised the "volume of exposure" since that has always been a problematic issue that underlays the EPA's many failures to protect the public. The level of "no harm" is set far too high IMHO. Each time they reassess mercury or lead levels or some other toxic chemical lower, it's only after documented studies instead of being safe not sorry.
Good thing I'm not a homeopathic healer or else you would have hurt my feelings and questioned the entire basis of my life's work. Since homeopathic potions often average a 1 part to 1,000,000 of the original substance ratio, they obviously have a diiferent take on volumes of exposure. Let me be clear that I have zero idea of what the proper exposure level is for any of these chemicals. What's frustrating is that there is often no actual need for these additives.

dadgum...something else I didn't do! I always hated the burn of mouthwash and the super strong minty smell, so I never used it. I would use peroxyl on occasion for a canker sore but that was on rare occasions. I have some family members that use mouthwash religiously though.

David

Much as I enjoy jousting with Brian (god what a relief to find a clever civilized forum instead of the usual fiery missives from true believers) - I don't read Brian's message as dethroning Tobacco as the number one Health hazard and lung cancer cause. Instead, I took his quote to mean that while there are 400 cancer causing agents in tobacco, only a handful of those are causing the cancer. It was a way of buttressing his point that my unverified blog list of bad additives which do have harmful effects documented does not mean that they actually make Listerine more harmful than a non adulterated alcohol rinse. just m2c

Charm's interpretation of my meaning is spot on. And you're right it isn't a good thing to bring up homeopathic remedies with me unless you want to unleash a diatribe. Some other topics that fall into this category would be chiropractic medicine, and oxymoron in my opinion. As to our government's ability to protect us from things, while the balance has leaned to the good, the amount of stuff that they let go into our air, water, food and more is disturbing to say the least. Of course this is less about their understanding of the science, than what our congressmen and senators, who make the laws that allow it to happen, make in donations from the companies that are continually allowed to poison our world with a list of toxins that boggles the mind. Combine that with the utter stupidity of allowing loose on us, that which we really have no fracking clue what their impact might be, it makes me desire to either commit murder of a high ranking federal official euphemistically called a public servant, or slit my wrists is frustration over it all.

Lastly related to the comment about Listerene.... we all know what the impact of 25% alcohol is, it is the other little bits of molecular toxins and unknowns that I am less worried about. Who cares if the small rats, bugs, and centipedes in the jungle might kill you, when the king of the predators is sitting right in front of you licking his chops.

David,

The reason why I stopped using Listerine and the occasional drink was because I was having a problem with my tongue in the spot where the tumor developed. I wouldn't be surprised if the cancer was growing for 12 months or more before I was dx'd. Doctor's, dentists and a hygienist just didn't see nothing wrong...until they saw the tumor. I'm still mad at myself for not going to other doctors...I kept telling the same people that that one spot on my tongue burns really bad when i eat anything spicy...hind-sight is 20/20...I should have been more prudent.

There are almost 600 additives in a unlit cigarette, once that cigarette is lit and smoked it releases almost 4000 chemicals into our bodies and air.

Asbestos and coal mining would probably be worse on your lungs quicker then tobacco. But smoking is deadly.