health: Cancer and Dioxins

[Guest guest]

hi...This report is very interesting. It confirms what we heard from the

world reknown cell culture technologist and immunologist, Dr. Myron

Wentz talk about in April .He is the founder of Usana which promotes

scientifically designed products for health. He told us that we are ALL

exposed to dioxins EVERY day. It is 100,000 x's more toxic than asenic

by weight.

It is found in different sources...we mainly get it from animal

fat/animal meats. Since our bodies were not designed to detox this

substance it remains in storage in fat cells. It is even in mother's

breast milk....90% of mothers have it in their breast milk.

The only ways to rid dioxins are by excretion and secretion. That's why

taking a superior supplement like' Usana' could be beneficial over the

long term because they are designed to help the body counteract toxins,

etc. For further info on Usana products which are superior,

scientifically designed feel free to contact me. I want you to know

about these because health is so important and when someone loses it

....it is so hard to regain.

Please pass this onto anyone you know that has health problems or is

willing to take charge of their health.

Sheena

healthyu2000@...

U.S. Report Will Firmly Link Dioxin With Cancer

Updated 1:25 PM ET May 17, 2000

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is poised to declare

firmly that dioxin, a toxin found throughout the food supply, causes

cancer in

people, officials said on Wednesday.

Made notorious when it was fingered as the toxic component in Agent

Orange -- used to clear forests in the Vietnam war -- dioxin caused

the

evacuation of the town of Times Beach, Missouri, in 1983. The town was

later bulldozed because it was found to be contaminated with the

chemical.

A draft report leaked to The Washington Post newspaper upgrades dioxin

to the status of a " human carcinogen " but also concludes that health

and

environmental officials have done as good a job as possible to control

it.

Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who have been

reviewing dioxin for 10 years and who worked on the draft, confirmed

the

newspaper report.

Dioxin has hormone-like effects on the human body, causing changes

that

can lead not only to cancer but to infertility and other sexual

changes.

Vietnam veterans exposed to dioxin claim it has caused a variety of

ills

including cancer and birth defects in their children.

The National Toxicology Program of the National Institute of

Environmental

Health Sciences (NIEHS) also tried to declare dioxin a known human

carcinogen in its report on cancer-causing substances released this

week.

But a lawsuit by New York restaurant owners, who claim the link to

cancer

will scare customers away from their food, has blocked the

publication.

The EPA report, due out in June, notes that emissions of dioxin have

plummeted from peak levels in the 1970s but still pose a significant

cancer

threat to some people who ingest it -- mostly in food, especially food

of

animal origin.

Lucier, director of the National Toxicology Program and author

of

some of the chapters in the EPA report, said there is no avoiding

dioxin.

" Even penguins in Antarctica have dioxin in them, " Lucier said in a

telephone

interview.

" It is found in food you eat and have to eat. Food in the United

States is

probably as safe as any in the world, but the foods that would contain

it the

most would be any kind of fatty meat, eggs, and so on. "

Over the past five years, the EPA has imposed regulations on major

dioxin

emitters, including municipal waste combustors, medical waste

incinerators,

hazardous waste incinerators, cement kilns that burn hazardous waste,

pulp

and paper operations, and sources of toxic chemicals known as PCBs.

" I think to a large extent we have done pretty well with it, " Lucier

said.

" Dioxin levels are coming down in people's bodies, especially young

people,

which is good news. "

There are many different dioxins but the form named in both the EPA

and

NIEHS reports is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). " No one

sets out purposely to make dioxin. It is an unwanted side-product that

you

get from burning, " Lucier said.

" Any time you combine heat, chlorine and organic material, there is

the

possibility of making dioxins. "

Lucier said scientists do not quite understand how it damages the

body, but

it acts on a universal mechanism that controls cell functions. Dioxin

attaches,

or binds, tightly to a receptor called the AH receptor -- a kind of

cellular

doorway found in virtually all cells in the body.

Once there, it changes the function of hundreds of genes. " It can make

them

more or less active. It will either stimulate gene expression or

suppress it, "

Lucier said.

Dioxin exposure has been linked to many different kinds of tumors,

especially non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. One study of Italians exposed to

dioxin as children found evidence of hormonal changes. " When they have

children, most all their kids are girls, not boys, " Lucier said.

" Dioxin affects pathways that are involved in normal growth and

differentiation so it can cause birth defects. It can cause effects on

sperm

counts. "

Lucier said his program hopes it can raise dioxin's status to a known

human

carcinogen, mostly so that government agencies can be encouraged to

monitor its effects on the population.

But a group of New York restaurant owners, lead by business consultant

Jim Tozzi, along with a medical device maker, have filed suit in

federal

district court claiming the upgrade would cause them economic harm.

The restaurant owners argue that people would stop eating at their

restaurants because dioxin is found in food, while the device maker

objects

to statements that medical products containing polyvinyl chloride

contribute

to environmental dioxin when incinerated as medical waste.

Lucier said the next hearing on the case is in U.S. district court in

Washington on June 14.