A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
Child obesity on a massive scale
Diabetes
Heart disease
Infertility and birth defects
Mental illness including anxiety and depression
Obesity
Are these conditions caused by our genes and simply our living longer? Clearly our genes play a major part.
There is evidence that greater genetic diversity or “heterozygosity” confers advantages making some humans
less likely to succumb to major diseases such as dementia, skin cancer and multiple sclerosis, diseases which
are more common amongst Europeans who are more inbred than other populations with greater genetic
diversity.
We don’t know the extent to which many of these conditions are caused by polluted air, land and water;
harmful chemicals used in modern materials and products; hormones and antibiotics fed to cattle;
industrialised agribusiness, agricultural pesticides and fertilizers; harmful food processing and fast food. In
particular what are the causes of the cancer epidemic? We do know that the inhumane conditions in which
animals are reared for our food are playing a major part in pandemics, as discussed earlier. Not enough is
spent on research to find out the crucially important answers. Little money is to be made out of such
essential research.
However, it looks certain that a considerable percentage of the diseases of wealthy countries have their
origins in diet and lifestyle. Take cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund UK’s recent report attributes over
40% of breast and bowel cancer cases in rich countries are preventable through diet, physical activity and
weight control alone. Simple measures like cycling to work and swapping fatty foods for fruit can make all
the difference for these and many other cancers, they say. Its report makes recommendations for "clean
living" policies. According to the report, about a third of the twelve most common cancers in high-income
countries and about a quarter in lower income countries could be prevented through diet, exercise and
weight control.
“After not smoking, it is clear that diet, physical activity and weight are the most important things people can
do to reduce their cancer risk”.
Professor Mike Richards, National Clinical Director for Cancer.
The No More Breast Cancer campaign wants the link between breast cancer and everyday exposure to toxic
chemicals taken seriously: 45,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Over 12,400 women
die every year from breast cancer. In women aged 35-54 years, breast cancer is the most common cause of
all deaths, accounting for 17% of all deaths. Some 50% of all cancers could be prevented by changes in
lifestyle and diet. But that would mean avoiding a vast number of toxic substances many of which we are
completely unaware of.
They argue that lifelong, low-level exposure to the cocktail of hundreds of toxins and hormone-disruptors in
our everyday lives – from pesticide residues in food to chemicals in consumer products and in the workplace
– is linked to ever-rising rates of the disease. To date, UK government, industry and mainstream cancer
organisations have refuted this possibility.
The campaign urges the British government to mark a new approach by ensuring the substitution of all
carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting chemicals with safer alternatives, as soon as they are available.
100,000 man-made chemicals are polluting our environment. 500 man-made chemicals are thought to
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