this must surely come as bad news to those who use cosmetics and or sunblock, especially if on a regular basis.
if the risk of contracting cancer, which remains singapore's numero uno cause of death, is of a high probability like 1 in 4 will die from cancer, scientists from nanyang technological university (ntu) have found a possible link between a popular ingredient, identified as zinc oxide and cancer.
the popular ingredient, zinc oxide used in sunblock and cosmetics, in its nano* form could be harmful as the particles are so tiny, they could be absorbed easily into skin cells.
*a nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre.
because the tumour-suppressing protein, called P53 may not be present in some people, or do not produce enough of it in their cells due to hereditary reasons, these people could be susceptible to cancer.
the ntu researchers, led by assistant professors joachim loo and ng kee woei and nus's assistant professor david leong, found that when they combined 10 micrograms per ml of zinc oxide nano particles with human cells, the cells were damaged.
my comments:
the scientists involved in the study says there is no cause for alarm yet and the study is in its prelim stage but little is known about the use of nanomaterials in consumer products and their possible ill-effects.
because cancer is aleady singapore's number 1 killer, most people would probably know these statistics taken from the singapore cancer society:
1 in 4 Singaporeans dies of cancer
12 people die from cancer every day
28 people are diagnosed with cancer every day**
**49,412 incident cancers diagnosed among the resident population during 2005-2009. Singapore Cancer Registry, Interim Report.
due to the fact that the older generation ci plans (first product launched in 1987), and the availability of state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, coupled with consumers' health consciousness, our insurers have recognised the limitations of the former and since 2006, we have seen many new generation ci products that cover early and intermediate stage critical illnesses, including carcinom-in-situ of specified organs and some of these products also allow for multiple ci claims.
what all this means is the diversity of choices available on the coverage of critical illnesses which is no longer limited to the traditional older generation ci plans.
but of course, like what confucius has said, "the essence of learning is application" meaning now that u know, what are u going to do about it?
No comments:
Post a Comment