Cancer Prevention

Simplify

Choose products with simpler ingredient lists and fewer synthetic chemicals. Avoid synthetic fragrance (look for the word “fragrance” on labels), and use fewer products overall. Ask yourself if you really need that product and all those extra chemical exposures. For example, bubble baths with heavy fragrances and synthetic dyes are good to avoid.

Research Products Yourself

By Martha Miller Johnson, Positively Green 2/2009

News of possible health threats associated with plastic bothered Jeanne Haegele of Chicago so much that she has quit using plastic. The 28-year-old marketing coordinator chronicles her efforts online at www.lifelessplastic.blogspot.com. “Plastic is absolutely everywhere–our food is packaged in it, our clothes are often made out of it, and even baby toys are made of plastic,” Haegele says. “It was scary that something that was such a big part of my life might be dangerous.”

A vaccine helps the body fight disease. Most people are familiar with vaccines for diseases like chicken pox or the flu. Vaccines (sometimes called vaccinations) help train the immune system to recognize and destroy harmful substances, such as bacteria or viruses, before they can cause disease.

Study Shows Even Low-to-Moderate Drinking Raises Risk of Cancer

Researchers followed more than 1.2 million middle-aged women for an average of seven years. The women were participants in the ongoing Million Women Study in the U.K.