Category Archives: Cancer

Common US consumer products release toxic compounds, new research shows

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Dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer and air pollution are often found in cosmetics, personal care products and cleaners

Some of the most common consumer products probably release 5,000 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in American homes annually, new research on the dangerous class of chemicals finds.

The research, which analyzed ingredient lists across dozens of product categories, found the most concerning levels in general purpose cleaners, art supplies and laundry detergents, while the individual product that emitted the most VOCs was mothballs.

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Levels of carcinogenic chemical near Ohio derailment site far above safe limit

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EPA scientists assessed a dioxin cancer risks threshold in 2010, but a federal cleanup is only triggered at far higher levels

Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.

The EPA at the time proposed lowering the cleanup threshold to reflect the science around the highly toxic chemical, but the Obama administration killed the rules, and the higher federal action threshold remains in place.

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Less than 3% of NHS England trusts hit key cancer waiting-time target

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‘Shocking’ analysis reveals only three trusts managed to treat 85% of patients within two months of urgent referral

Patients are being warned of a “shocking gap in cancer care” as new figures reveal that fewer than 3% of England’s NHS trusts met a key waiting-times target last year for cancer patients to be treated within two months of an urgent GP referral.

Of 125 hospital trusts in England analysed, only three (2.4%) hit the standard of treating 85% of patients within 62 days after an urgent referral in 2022. Some trusts have not hit the standard for at least eight years.

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US justice department sues two companies over pollution in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

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Japanese company Denka, along with US chemicals giant DuPont, have operated the plant that produces cancer-causing chloroprene

The US justice department has sued the two petrochemical giants behind a facility in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” responsible for the highest cancer risk rates caused by air pollution in the US in a major federal lawsuit that seeks to substantially curb the plant’s emissions.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges emissions at the Pontchartrain Works facility in Reserve, Louisiana, violate the Clean Air Act and “present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and welfare”.

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Dozens of lawsuits claim hair relaxers cause cancer and other health problems

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Suits that say beauty companies knew products contained dangerous chemicals to be consolidated in Chicago court

Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L’Oréal and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in a Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the US judicial panel on multidistrict litigation.

At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway.

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MPs urge asbestos company to pay £10m to fund cancer research

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All-party group including peers backs campaign by victims’ group, saying Cape ‘knowingly put people in danger’

MPs and peers have written to one of the biggest manufacturers of asbestos, calling on it to make a £10m donation towards mesothelioma research “for knowingly putting people in danger”.

In a letter to Altrad, parent company of Cape, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on occupational safety and health says that documents released after a long-running court battle show that Cape historically “provided misleading reassurance about the dangers of asbestos”.

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US cancer deaths drop 33% since 1991, new report says

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American Cancer Society calculates that 3.8m lives have been saved, highlighting HPV’s role in tackling cervical cancer

American cancer deaths have declined by 33% since 1991, according to a new report – saving an estimated 3.8m lives.

The report by the American Cancer Society attributed the three-decade trend largely to better early detection, lower rates of smoking, and improvements in treatment. Researchers also credited the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV).

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Michael Flatley diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ form of cancer

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Riverdance star has undergone surgery and is in care of doctors, according to Instagram account

Michael Flatley, best known for his Riverdance show, has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of cancer.

A post on the Irish dancer and director’s Instagram account said: “Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He has undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors.”

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Cancer diagnostic tests from Morocco to boost disease control in Africa

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The development marks an important step in addressing the continent’s reliance on imported treatments and vaccines

The first Moroccan-produced tests to diagnose breast cancer and leukaemia will become commercially available within months, cutting costs and waiting times for patients in the country and across Africa.

Most of the diagnostic kits for cancer and other diseases in Africa are expensive imports from outside the continent, usually from Europe and the US.

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‘Intolerable’ NHS crisis to continue until April, health leaders warn

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Ministers urged to recall parliament amid warnings patients are dying needlessly due through inaction

The crisis engulfing the NHS will continue until Easter, health leaders have warned, as senior doctors accused ministers of letting patients die needlessly through inaction.

More than a dozen trusts and ambulance services have declared critical incidents in recent days, with soaring demand, rising flu and Covid cases and an overstretched workforce piling pressure on the health service.

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Plant-based diet can cut bowel cancer risk in men by 22%, says study

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Researchers find no such link for women, suggesting connection between diet and bowel cancer is clearer for men

Eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of bowel cancer in men by more than a fifth, according to research.

A large study that involved 79,952 US-based men found that those who ate the largest amounts of healthy plant-based foods had a 22% lower risk of bowel cancer compared with those who ate the least.

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Poorer women in UK have sixth-highest cancer death rates in Europe, WHO finds

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Those from deprived backgrounds are particularly at risk of dying from cancer of the lungs, liver, bladder and oesophagus

Poorer women in Britain have some of the highest death rates from cancer in Europe, an in-depth new World Health Organization study has found.

They are much more likely to die from the disease compared with better-off women in the UK and women in poverty in many other European countries.

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GPs in England to send suspected cancer patients directly for tests

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Scheme starting this month is aimed at improving Britain’s poor record on early diagnosis

All GPs in England will be able to refer suspected cancer patients for tests without them first having to see a specialist under an NHS initiative designed to speed up diagnosis.

The scheme, which starts this month, will let family doctors send patients with potential symptoms straight to have a scan, X-ray or other diagnostic test.

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TV property presenter Jonnie Irwin reveals he has terminal cancer

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A Place in the Sun and Escape to the Country host hopes he can inspire others to ‘make the most of every day’

The TV presenter Jonnie Irwin has revealed he has terminal cancer, saying he hopes sharing his diagnosis will inspire others to “make the most of every day”.

The 48-year-old, who presents Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun and the BBC’s Escape to the Country, said he had lung cancer that had spread to his brain, and that he did not know how much time he had left to live.

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UK breakthrough on lung cancer helps target patients at risk of relapse

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Research programme buys doctors crucial time by spotting returning tumours before symptoms appear

Seven years ago, Kelly Harrop was working at a stables while also running regularly in half marathons and 10k races. Then she began to suffer digestive problems. Scans eventually revealed marks on her lungs. The subsequent diagnosis was direct. “I had lung cancer. It was a shock. I was fit, healthy and had never smoked,” she told the Observer.

Kelly had surgery to remove the tumour, followed by chemotherapy. But doctors knew there was a risk of the tumour reappearing, so they enrolled her in a new research programme, TRACERx. Funded by Cancer Research UK, the £14m project was set up 10 years ago to investigate how lung tumours arise and evolve. A total of 850 patients with early-stage lung cancer were studied and followed from diagnosis to treatment.

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Victorian upper house MP Fiona Patten reveals kidney cancer diagnosis

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Reason party leader says she still plans to fight November state election after undergoing surgery next month

Victorian MP Fiona Patten has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer after a tumour was recently discovered on her kidney.

The Reason party leader will undergo a nephrectomy – the removal of the affected kidney – in early October and still plans to contest the state election on 26 November.

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Revealed: black and Asian people wait longer for cancer diagnosis in England than white people

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Exclusive: Analysis of 126,000 cases over a decade shows ‘deeply worrying’ racial disparities in NHS wait times

Black and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks, according to a “disturbing” analysis of NHS waiting times.

A damning review of the world’s largest primary care database by the University of Exeter and the Guardian discovered minority ethnic patients wait longer than white patients in six of seven cancers studied. Race and health leaders have called the results “deeply concerning” and “absolutely unacceptable”.

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Facing the uncomfortable possibility that healthcare is discriminatory

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When Covid struck and BAME patients died disproportionately, students of heath inequalities were not surprised

As the first Covid wave hit, it quickly became clear that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds were dying in disproportionate numbers.

The immediacy and visibility of these deaths was shocking and revealed a disparity so clear-cut that some wondered if the explanation could be genetic. But those who have spent a lifetime studying health inequalities were less surprised. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds do worse across a wide range of health outcomes.

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John Farnham recovering in ICU after mouth cancer removed in surgery, singer’s family reveals

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Veteran Australian hitmaker is in a stable condition in hospital after surgery for almost 12 hours as doctors worked to successfully remove a cancer tumour from his mouth

The veteran Australian singer John Farnham is recovering in hospital after undergoing almost 12 hours of surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Farham’s wife, Jill, and sons Rob and James said the singer was in a stable condition.

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Popular weedkiller Roundup on trial again as cancer victims demand justice

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A long list of upcoming trials complicating Bayer’s efforts to escape the costly, ongoing litigation over the health effects of Roundup

Cancer has taken an unrelenting toll on 72-year-old Mike Langford. After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in 2007 he suffered through five recurrences despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Now he struggles with chemo-related neuropathy in his arms and legs, and new tests show the cancer is back.

Langford blames his cancer on his longtime use of the popular weed-killing product Roundup, which he applied countless times over decades using a backpack sprayer around his five-acre California property and a vacation lake home. He alleges in a lawsuit that Monsanto, the longtime Roundup maker now owned by the German company Bayer AG, should have warned of a cancer risk.

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