Category Archives: Environmental chemicals & pollution

Cancer risks of cooking on a gas hob overplayed

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Cooking on a gas hob unlikely to increase cancer risk

With proper ventilation, cooking on a gas hob unlikely to increase cancer risk

Don’t panic. Despite this morning’s headlines suggesting that cooking on a gas stove could lead to cancer, it’s not exactly time to abandon your pots and pans or to trade the gas oven in for an electric one.

As we’ll discuss below, this shouldn’t be a problem for anyone with decent ventilation in their kitchen. And even so, the study showed that chemicals given off by cooking on a gas stove fall well below accepted workplace safety limits.

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Do moisturisers cause skin cancer?

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Do moisturisers cause skin cancer?

Could the cosmetic products we use be harming our health in any way? A while back, Henry neatly debunked the persistent myth that deodorants are linked to breast cancer. Today, another study comes out that turns the spotlight on another group of products – moisturising creams.

The study found that common moisturising creams can increase the risk of skin cancer in mice that had already experienced high doses of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, mimicking the effect of heavy sun exposure. Let’s take a closer look at the results.

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Is this the start of the silly season?

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Apart from the red wine/breast cancer story Ed blogged about on Tuesday, a couple of other stories in the media this week had us wondering if these were the first signs of silly season taking hold this ‘summer‘.

To kick off the week, the Independent on Sunday warned the nation about the toxic properties of the PVC shower curtains.

Now, Cancer Research UK is all for responsible legislation against potential environmental hazards – indeed, banning smoking in the workplace was perhaps the single biggest blow against environmental carcinogens this country has seen in recent times.

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