Have any of you noticed how many members R'osity has lost to cancer just recently? I don't pop in to the front page too often but those few times I did always seem to result in reading a piece of news about someone's passing to that disease. I know it's a huge community and cancer is responsible for a serious percentage of deaths in general but I can't help thinking there's more to it among us here on RR... I can just picture all of you glued to your comps at home after work (where you're probably not allowed to smoke) firing away one cig after another... I know how comfy it is 'cos I've been there myself... Anyway, just something to think about. I would hate to see a pic of one of the people from our gallery up there on the front page sometime.

I'ts not just R'osity. There is many people around me who have either lost thier lives, or had all the treatments for cancer. They really need to get into some more updated research to this, and I have heard it has been since the early 50's that any real studies and cures were worked on.I also heard the drug companies have a big say on how much research will be allowed out too.

Ugh, the drug companies. As our world gets more and more toxic, more of us are gonna die of cancer. That's the sad truth of it. :'[

Niu, Even though this is totally OT, this rings a few bells with me, both of my parents have been diagnosed and have undergone treatment for the big "C". I also had my bout with the big "C". Kort is right, it is everywhere. I just found out that one of my co workers has stage 4 cancer in his esophagus and is in the hospital dying as I write this. Another one of my co workers did battle with breast cancer last year and another one of my co workers just lost her mother to stomach cancer recently. I am beginning to feel like I live in a cancer cluster here. Something that my mother's doctor told us, and maybe we need to take her advice? You decide. Never cook in plastic or cover food with plastic wrap and cook, I am surmising that heated plastic creates carcinogens. (you know like cooking in the microwave?) Teflon really isn't safe to use when cooking either, you should discard any teflon coated pans at the first sign of peeling. (Guess you wouldn't want to eat plastic either eh?) I now cook in cast iron btw! Margerine is the closest you will ever come to eating plastic, do yourself the favor splurge and buy the butter. Kind of makes ya wonder about that cooking spray too huh? There was a bunch of other stuff she discussed, including things like deodorant that should be replaced by using a body powder based with corn starch. Oh yeah and I think lipstick was in there too. I guess in today's world there are a lot of toxic things that we use everyday, things we take for granted. I know I took a look at my lifestyle and changed a few things. I also learned from my father's experience that should you ever suffer with acid reflux, you need to seek immediate help for it and go to a gastro doc and have yourself scoped. The acid eats away the protective lining in both your esophagus and stomach leaving it vulnerable to attack. Sorry for being kind of long winded there. Brenda

Thanks for all the info, Branda, Doug and Kort :) I know we're living in a toxic environment and some exposure to carcinogens is unavoidable. But that's exactly why we should not add to the already existing risk by doing what's undoubtedly gonna end bad... and smoking is. I'm gonna go tell that to my boss who's just about to light up another smoke IN THE OFFICE! Niu