Fighting Cancer at the BBQ

I never knew grilling food could be so dangerous, but the effects of charring, grilling or blackening food can produce cancerous chemicals. Here are 5 simple things you can do at the next grill out to cut down on the production of harmful chemicals:

1. Cook at Lower Temperatures


2. Avoid Char-Grilling or Blackening Your Meat


3. Prevent Flaring


4. Use Grass-Fed Meat Sources


5. Marinate the Meat in Anti-Oxidant Rich sources: lemon/lime, red wine, apple cider vinegar & herbs
   

To read about this in more detail, click here.

PCBs May Impair Children's Vaccine Response

A new study suggests that PCB exposure hinders kids' responses to tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The study sample consisted of "587 children born between 1999 and 2001 on the Faroe Islands, located in the North Atlantic between Norway and Iceland." This area has been noted for high PCB concentrations in the environment. The study revealed,

"higher PCB concentrations, particularly in children at 18 months, were associated with lower concentrations of diphtheria and tetanus antibodies at ages 5 and 7."

This is some pretty scary stuff! Essentially, PCBs could be unraveling the benefits of decades of medicine. Even scarier, these effects are being noticed in children. This means that we will have to observe PCB impacts for years before we fully understand the effects of early-age exposure.

Vocab Time

Lately I've been realizing that there is medical lingo pertaining to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma out there that people should be more aware of. Today, I'm going to outline a few of the key phrases that seem to mystify people when I talk about my sister, Lucy's condition.

• Hematology: the field of medicine that studies blood and blood diseases


• Hematological Malignancies: cancers of the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes (This include non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.)


• Lymphocyte: a type of white blood cell


• Lymphatic System: the system of tubes and glands in the body which filters body fluid and fights infection. Made up of the lymph glands, lymphatic vessels and the spleen.


• Remission: the state of absence of disease activity in patients with known chronic illness that cannot be cured. For cancer, you are never really "cured" because it could always come back; instead, you say that the cancer "went into remission."

There! Now you can sound a little bit more informed when discussing these issues!

9-11 and Blood Cancer

When you think of 9-11, a lot of terrible memories may come to mind, including the death and destruction resulting from the plane crashes. However, you may not have considered the toxic dust cloud that resulted from the collapse of the Twin Towers.

8,500 recovery workers have experienced various illnesses resulting from exposure to the dust clouds, including respiratory diseases and cancers. Of the 8,500 suffering citizen, 75 have been diagnosed with various blood cancers, such as as NHL. All of these individuals are now involved in a joint-action lawsuit filed against New York City.

When the plastic, cement, insulation, glass and computers within the World Trade Center were pulverized, the resulting dust plume contained a number of carcinogenic chemicals, including asbestos, dioxin and PCBs. Read more here.

It's scary to think about, but there will likely be PCBs floating around NYC for years to come as a result of 9-11.

Seafood and PCBs

Eating seafood can be dangerous because all too often they swim, eat and breed in water that's been contaminated. Recently, dangerously high levels of PCBs have been found in certain seafood. Obviously, avoiding these species is a good idea, as PCBs can lead to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other deadly diseases.

Below is a list of seafood contaminated with PCBs according to villagevoice.com:

1. American eel


2. Atlantic and farmed salmon


3. Atlantic bluefin tuna

Man, this is going to make going out for sushi difficult!

Mr. T kicked cancer's butt

Mr. T, the actor made famous by such hits as The A-Team and Rocky III, was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in 1995. He is presently in remission. He was never very public about his battle with cancer but I managed to find a video interview with the famous mohawked actor. Click here to check it out.

No need to pity that fool! Congrats Mr. T.

Brave Kid Battles NHL

Autin is only 14 years old. He's battling NHL, and losing his hair to chemo. But that's not stopping him from staying optimistic about recovery. His love of basketball seems to really be helping him pull through. I'm trying to get Lucy's nerve up to write this guy. Wish me luck and check out this video: