Chemical Killers

A major news item tonight is that breast cancer rates are continuing to fall. The decline is being attributed to discontinuation of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which usually began when a woman approached menopause. The removal of that one factor is said to be significant.

I always believed that cancer was caused when something unnatural was introduced into the body. I have cancer now and I still believe that. In fact, I've spent months searching for a cause for my leukemia. I've never smoked (except for that one experiment back when I was in college), I've never drunk alcohol (except for communion wine in church before I became a Muslim), and for the last twenty years my diet has been fairly healthy. I knew there had to be a cause. And I've found it.

Benzene is a chemical derived from petroleum. It is present in many things, including perfumes. I have been allergic to perfume, and scents in general, since 1986. I've tried to avoid them, but it has been increasingly difficult. Muslims generally wear scents--often quite heavily--and so I was exposed reguarly when I taught in an Islamic school. I became increasingly sick--new symptoms appearing every couple of years--but I kept trudging on. Finally, in January, I accidentally walked into an aerosol spray of air freshener and w as stopped dead in my tracks.

Benzene doesn't just activate allergic responses in me and others. It can cause leukemia. I'm convinced that's what made me sick. The chemicals actually alter genetic structures. When I Googled benzene earlier today, the first listing was a law firm which helps those who have been exposed. Their site confirmed what I already knew. Benzene causes leukemia. Think about it.

Think about it when you plug in that air freshener. When you pour on the scented shampoo, soap up with jasmine or rose and put on your scented anti-perspirant. When you put on the clothes which were washing in scented detergent and dried with scented dryer sheets. When you spray air fresheners. When you pour on perfume, cologne or aftershave. Think about it.

The rate of leukemia is rising. The kind I have used to be for old people, but the patients are getting younger. And more children are getting leukemia.

Do you wonder when we spend so much time trying to create artificial scents? Of course we don't want to smell bad. But we don't need to overdo it. As the commercial said back in the 60s, "A little dab'll do ya."

Chemicals are killing us. They're in our medicines. In our food. In our water. And in the air we breathe. We need to demand a change before it's too late.