Guest guest Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Hi folks: I think I may have mentioned this before. It has long been known that basil is mutagenic. That does not prove that it causes cancer because not all mutagens are carcinogenic. BUT, all carcinogens ARE mutagenic, so it makes sense to be cautious about mutagens. The following link seems to indicate, finally, that basil is indeed carcinogenic. Do what you want with this information. I have made sure for many years that I only use/eat basil if I absolutely have to. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm? storyID=3607893 & thesection=news & thesubsection=world http://snipurl.com/amja Rodney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 14, 2004 Report Share Posted November 14, 2004 Yep! Natural and tasty don't always mean good for ya! Also note, FWIW: " Animal cancer tests, which are done at the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), are being misinterpreted to mean that low doses of the chemicals tested and found positive are thereby relevant to human cancer. Animal cancer tests are mainly done on synthetic chemicals and industrial pollutants, yet half of all natural chemicals that have been tested at the MTD are rodent carcinogens. It is argued that the explanation for the high frequency of positive results in animal cancer tests is that high dose animal cancer tests are mainly measuring increases in cell division due to cell killing and compensatory cell division; this is a high dose effect that does not occur at low doses. In any case 99.9% or more of the chemicals we eat are natural. For example, 99.99% of the pesticides we eat are natural chemicals that are present in plants to ward off insects and other predators. More than half of those natural pesticides tested in high dose animal tests are rodent carcinogens. There are about 10,000 or so different natural pesticides in our diet, and they are usually present at enormously higher levels than synthetic pesticides. Cooking food also generates thousands of chemicals. There are over 1000 chemicals reported in a cup of coffee. Only 26 have been tested in animal cancer tests and more than half are rodent carcinogens; there are still a thousand chemicals left to test. The amount of potentially carcinogenic pesticide residues consumed in a year is less than the amount known of rodent carcinogens in a cup of coffee. The reason we can eat the tremendous variety of natural chemical rodent carcinogens in our food is that animals are extremely well defended against all chemicals by many general defense systems. These enzymes, e.g., DNA repair and glutathione transferases which defend against reactive compounds such as mutagens, are all inducible (more of them are made when they are in use). They are equally effective against natural and synthetic reactive chemicals. Thus, animals are extremely well defended against low doses of chemicals. One does not expect, nor does one find, a general difference between synthetic and natural chemicals in their carcinogenicity, and though less well studied, the same would be expected for mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and acute toxicity. The effort to eliminate synthetic pesticides because of unsubstantiated fears about residues in food will make fruits and vegetables more expensive, decrease consumption, and thus increase cancer rates. The levels of synthetic pesticide residues are trivial in comparison to natural chemicals, and thus their potential for cancer causation is extremely low. " On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 04:01:23 -0000, Rodney <perspect1111@...> wrote: > > > Hi folks: > > I think I may have mentioned this before. It has long been known > that basil is mutagenic. That does not prove that it causes cancer > because not all mutagens are carcinogenic. BUT, all carcinogens ARE > mutagenic, so it makes sense to be cautious about mutagens. > > The following link seems to indicate, finally, that basil is indeed > carcinogenic. Do what you want with this information. I have made > sure for many years that I only use/eat basil if I absolutely have to. > > http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm? > storyID=3607893 & thesection=news & thesubsection=world > > http://snipurl.com/amja > > Rodney. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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