Every day, we use dozens to hundreds of products in our daily life. However, some products we use every day can cause cancer.
In this article, we will talk about the cancer-causing products that we use every day and the reason why they cause cancer. They are tobacco, certain personal care items, household cleaners, processed foods, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and some plastic products.
By identifying these potentially harmful products and finding alternative products to replace them, we can reduce our daily exposure to carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals.
Tobacco and Marijuana Smoking Products
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that smoking tobacco and marijuana products can lead to lung cancer. More importantly, it is the number one cause of the most common cancer type, lung cancer.
Imagine a world where people stop smoking and have healthier lungs and bodies for a better quality of life. Right now, we will discuss the chemicals inside of tobacco and marijuana that cause cancer.
Tobacco and smoking products can be harmful to our bodies because they contain numerous cancer-causing chemicals, including arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
The cancer-causing chemicals inside of tobacco can cause damage from the mouth to the lungs. Smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer deaths, and it increases the risks of many other cancers, including bladder, skin, leukemia, liver, and kidney.
Smoking affects the person who smokes and everyone around them who breathes the smoking air in equally harmful ways.
When people need to smoke, they can chew gum, take deep breaths, smell something nice like citrus or lavender, drink a glass of water, shower, call someone, do a breathing exercise, or even clean the room or dishes.
Programs such as Quitlines also provide free coaching over the phone to help people quit smoking. When people find a healthier way to eliminate tobacco from their habits, their lungs can recover from the harmful chemicals and, in turn, bring down the amount of people who get lung cancer.
Personal Care Products
We use personal care products daily. However, most packaging exudes an aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, and clean feeling, and we often mistake those feelings for the product being completely safe to apply to our bodies.
Little did we know that many personal care products contain potentially toxic ingredients. The poisonous ingredients, including cancer-causing chemicals, often disrupt our internal endocrine system and can lead to cancer.
The top four personal product categories that can contain cancer-causing chemicals are Hair care, deodorants, sprays, dry shampoos, chemicals, and sunscreens.
Hair straightening products in the hair care category are most likely to contain cancer-causing chemicals, including formaldehyde, aromatic amines, parabens, and phthalates. Hair dyes may also contain formaldehyde, aromatic amines, parabens, and phthalates.
Deodorants and sprays are most likely to contain cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, linking to leukemia and blood cancer. I have stopped using alumni-containing antiperspirant for my armpit; instead, I use benzene-free deodorant because they are associated with earlier breast cancer diagnosis.
Dry shampoo, which falls under the shampoo category, is most likely to contain cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene, which causes leukemia and blood cancer. Other toxic ingredients inside a dry shampoo bottle are ethanolamine compounds, parabens, UV filters, and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives.
Now that I see stores offering dry shampoo, I prefer liquid shampoo.
Chemical sunscreens in this category are most likely to contain cancer-causing chemicals, including octocrylene, avobenzone, and oxybenzone, which can be absorbed into the bloodstream, erupt hormones, and cause cancer.
I have switched from chemical sunscreen to mineral-based sunscreen. Mineral-based sunscreen, such as zinc or titanium, can be better for our skin because it stays on top of the skin, does not get absorbed into our body, and protects us from UV light.
Use resources like the EWG’s Skin Deep database or the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to check product safety.
Household Cleaning Agents
Whether we need to wipe down the oil stain on our stove or wash our dishes after a delicious homemade dinner, we use household cleaning agents. We also need to use household cleaning agents when our clothes are dirty with sweat or dirt.
We constantly clean our homes, our clothes, and the containers that we use to carry liquids or things. However, we might only think twice about our household cleaning agents if they do the job they are supposed to do.
We are happy when our household cleaning agents clean our stuff and unhappy when our dishes are still greasy after our earnest scrub.
Household cleaning agents can do more than clean our homes, clothes, and items; they can cause cancer.
Here, we will discuss the top four household cleaning agents to watch out for cancer-causing chemicals. They are aerosol sprays, chlorine bleach, scented products, and products labeled “Poison,” Danger,” or “Warning.”
Aerosol sprays are light cans that spray the air with cleaning agents, such as keyboard or kitchen counter cleaner spray. Those might bring you joy as you see the stain disappear and the dust removed from your keyboard, but they can also contain formaldehyde or xylene, which can cause leukemia and rare cancers.
Chlorine bleach may whiten your shirt or kill all the little ants or bugs around the home in one go, but it contains dioxins that cause lung cancer. As you can tell by smelling the chlorine that comes out of the bottle, it hurts our noses or esophagus by simply breathing in the chlorine, let alone spreading it out open in our rooms.
Scented household cleaning products may smell good. I was also obsessed with smelling good-scented household detergent, previously wanting my clothes to smell amazing. However, scented products are often not labs with chemicals different from those that make up those scents.
Scented products can contain phthalates that disrupt our hormone system and cause cancer.
Products labeled as “Poison,” “Danger,” or “Warning” definitely present a severe risk to our health. I also understand that people can be shopping in a rush to get the items they need without notice of the sign on the bottle of cleaner. Those cleaners can cause immediate Danger to our nose and skin if we are exposed to the chemicals unprotected and cause cancer if exposed regularly.
EPA and other groups have certified cleaning products that you can use without cancer-causing chemicals. Better yet, baking soda, vinegar, rogen peroxide, and other natural products will clean things without damaging our health.
Ultra-processed Foods and Food Additives
The yummy fast food burgers you gobbled down in between classes or the fries that are so delicious with the ketchup can elevate the risk of getting cancer.
Increased consumption of ultra-processed foods increases the chance of people getting ovarian, head and neck, and glandular cancers. Before learning about the harmful impact of ultra-processed foods, I was more than happy to wait until the very last minute to get fast food before they closed after working all day on school exam preparations or work projects.
Next, food additives that make our food more flavourful or lasting can also be harmful. Food additives that could cause cancer may sound new, but here, we will explain four food additives that contain chemicals that cause cancer.
Artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, sodium benzoate, and synthetic food dyes are the top four food additives that can increase one’s chances of getting cancer.
Artificial sweeteners are associated with obesity and liver cancer.
Emulsifiers link to increased breast and overall cancer risk.
Sodium Benzoate is a preservative that, when mixed with vitamin C, will produce benzene known to cause cancer. Synthetic food dyes can stimulate inflammation and increase our chances of colon cancer. The notable synthetic food dyes that are unhealthy are Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6.
Limit the consumption of ultra-processed foods such as processed meals, fast food, packaged snacks, and sugary cereals, and choose healthier, minimally processed foods and natural ingredients cooked from scratch instead for cancer-reducing benefits.
Pesticides and Chemicals in Food
Pesticides are applied to our fresh produce so that pests won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of farmers’ labor. However, those fresh products often contain a high level of pesticides that are harmful to the human body, especially relating to the decline in male reproductive health, and can cause breast and other cancer. The best way to make sure our diet does not contain pesticides.
The following non-organic products contain higher levels of pesticides in the market, and it is advised not to consume them in their non-organic forms. The “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues include:
1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Kale, collard and mustard greens
4. Nectarines
5. Apples
6. Grapes
7. Bell and hot peppers
8. Cherries
9. Peaches
10. Pears
11. Celery
12. Tomatoes
The following non-organic products contain the lowest levels of pesticides on the market, making them good choices over the top list of non-organic products.
1. Avocados
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapple
4. Onions
5. Papaya
6. Frozen sweet peas
7. Asparagus
8. Honeydew melon
9. Kiwi
10. Cabbage
11. Mushrooms
12. Cantaloupe
13. Mangoes
14. Watermelon
15. Sweet potatoes
I enjoy a mix of berries or a slice of cold, juicy watermelon on a hot summer day. Therefore, the better option for me is to choose organic berries and fresh produce to eliminate pesticide consumption, which can increase our chances of getting cancer.
Environmental Pollutants
Environmental pollutants surprisingly increase our chances of getting cancer. Here, we will discuss the major environmental pollutants, air and water pollutants, that can lead to an increased intake of cancer-causing chemicals and, eventually, an increased risk of getting cancer.
Air pollutants can happen anywhere indoors or outdoors. By definition, they are delicate particulate matter (PM2.5) that is toxic when breathed into our human body. They are often the gathering of vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, or other chemical burn waste that, when breathed in, can increase our risk of lung, digestive tract, liver, and breast cancers.
Back in Taiwan, I would breathe the air with car exhausts and feel a slight tingling pain in my throat. People often wear masks not because of illness but to prevent PM2.5 particulars from entering their noses into their bodies, causing discomfort.
When air quality worsens where we live, the best approach is to use air purifiers indoors, not go outside, wear masks when necessary, and reduce personal contributions to air pollutants by driving less and conserving more energy.
Water pollution is also a surprisingly major factor in cancer-causing chemical consumption. Tap water in various regions may contain carcinogens, including arsenic, uranium, radium, and disinfection byproducts.
I recently tested tap water quality in our region and found many carcinogens 400 times higher than the institute level. Therefore, I installed a reverse osmosis water filter to remove harmful chemicals from our drinking water and reduce cancer chemical intake.
To reduce our water pollution risk, we can first understand what chemicals are currently in our tap water using resources such as EWG’s Tap Water Database. We can then find ways to filter tap water before drinking, using methods such as activated carbon filters, reverse osmosis, and UV light to kill germs or microorganisms in our water.
Plastics and Synthetic Materials
The plastics we use daily, from food to detergent to plastic wraps, don’t decompose quickly and can contain materials that cause cancer. We often don’t overthink the plastic bows that look cute or the convenient utensils.
The five plastic and synthetic materials listed here contain cancer-causing materials: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polystyrene (PS), Phthalates, PFAs, and flame retardants.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a plastic material used in toys, packaging, and medical tubing. Polyvinyl Chloride can leach toxic chemicals such as BPA, phthalates, and heavy metals, and if absorbed by the plastic, it might enter our body and cause harm when eaten with PVC bowls or utensils.
Polystyrene (PS) is a plastic material in food containers and packaging. Heating Polysterne can produce styrene, a potential cancer-causing chemical.
Phthalates are a plastic softener found in softer and more elastic plastics. The chemical can disrupt hormones and increase cancer risk.
PFAs (per—and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) are plastics used in water-resistant fabrics, non-stick software, and some personal care products. They are associated with kidney and testicular cancers.
Flame retardants prevent fire. They are in electronics, furniture, and building materials. However, they may also increase cancer risk through dust exposure.
Certain plastics and synthetic materials are harmful to our bodies and can cause cancer, as described above. The best ways to reduce exposure to these materials are to choose alternatives like glass or stainless steel when possible, avoid heating food in plastic containers when choosing plastic products, look for “phthalate-free” and “PFAS-free” products, and vacuum regularly to remove contaminated fire retardant dust.
Other Household Items of Concern
I also found other household items, such as mothballs and candles, that contain cancer-causing materials. You should avoid those items and find an alternative to using them.
Mothballs contain naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, which may cause liver, kidney, and intestinal cancers. Certain candles contain toluene derivatives and benzidine-based dyes that cause cancer.
The better alternatives to mothballs are cedar, and for candles, consider using 100% soy or beeswax candles with cotton wicks and natural fragrances.
Tips on reducing cancer product use in our life
We now know that smoking is the number one cause of cancer. Therefore, the first cancer-causing product to avoid is smoking and not being exposed to secondhand smoke. Certain cleaning products can cause cancer, so choose EPA-certified or natural and fragrance-free personal care and cleaning products. Ultra-process food and food additives can cause cancer, as we explained in this article. Therefore, buy organic food when possible and be mindful not to get fruits and vegetables that contain more pesticides.
Reduce the use of plastics, especially for food storage and reheating, by using paper, metal, or glass products. Be mindful of air and water pollutants use; an air purifier should be indoors when air is of poor quality, and filter water with a filtering system such as reverse osmosis. Replace harmful household items such as mothballs with cedar, purchase candles with 100% soy or beeswax with cotton wicks and natural fragrance only, or avoid burning candles when possible.
Final Thoughts
While many products we use in daily life can cause cancer, this article helps us identify what needs to be changed and replaced with safer and healthier alternatives. When we choose safer products that don’t contain cancer-causing chemicals, we gradually and then significantly reduce our exposure to chemicals that lead to cancer.
Little changes can make a big difference in long-term health outcomes and make us healthier. Continue to apply what you learn from this article, and you will see an elevation in your body functions. You are guaranteeing yourself a better future ahead of you that can help you reduce your chances of getting cancer.
Other Posts You May Like
- 10 Ways to Prevent Cancer: Actionable Strategies for Health
- Top Household Cancer-Causing Cleaning Products
- Top Personal Care and Beauty Products That Are Causing You Cancer
- Pesticides in Food That Cause Cancer
Cancer-causing products to stop using for healthier life
