In this newsletter, we explore the rising rates of colorectal cancer among young people. Be sure to read ‘An Illustration of Modern Life,’ which provides a glimpse into the life of a child in today’s world

Read more at: https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/colorectal-cancer

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Abstract

Background:

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been linked to increased risk of cancers in body sites like the breast and colorectum. However exposure of ALAN as an environmental risk factor and its relation to cancers in humans has never been studied in detail.

Objective:

To explore the association of ALAN with all forms of cancers in 158 countries.

Materials and Methods:

An ecological study encompassing global data was conducted from January to June 2015, with age-standardized rates (ASR) of cancers as the outcome measure. ALAN, in the protected areas, as the exposure variable, was measured with reference to the Protected Area Light Pollution Indicator (PALI) and the Protected Area Human Influence Indicator (PAHI). Pearson’s correlations were calculated for PALI and PAHI with ASR of cancers for 158 countries, adjusted for country populations, electricity consumption, air pollution, and total area covered by forest. Stratified analysis was conducted according to the country income levels. Linear regression was applied to measure the variation in cancers explained by PALI and PAHI.

Results:

PALI and PAHI were positively associated with ASR of all forms of cancer, and also the four most common cancers (p < 0.05). These positive correlations remained statistically significant for PAHI with all forms of cancer, lung, breast, and colorectal cancer after adjusting for confounders. Positive associations of PALI and PAHI with cancers varied with income level of the individual countries. Variation in all forms of cancers, and the four most common cancers explained by PALI and PAHI, ranged from 3.3 – 35.5%.

Conclusion:

Artificial light at night is significantly correlated for all forms of cancer as well as lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers individually. Immediate measures should be taken to limit artificial light at night in the main cities around the world and also inside houses.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454613/

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The results of the recent IARC Monographs evaluation of the carcinogenicity of night shift work have now been published in The Lancet Oncology. This summary article presents the conclusions of the IARC Monographs Meeting 124.

Shift work involving circadian disruption was previously evaluated by the IARC Monographs, in 2007. In this updated evaluation, the Working Group chose the name “night shift work” to better describe the exposure circumstances and to reflect the main evidence base for the studies of cancer in humans. The re-evaluation was motivated by the large number of new, high-quality epidemiological studies including additional cancer sites.

The full scientific assessment will be published as Volume 124 of the IARC Monographs.

IARC Monographs Volume 124 Working Group
Carcinogenicity of night shift work
Lancet Oncol, Published online 4 July 2019;
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30455-3

IARC Monographs evaluation of the carcinogenicity of night shift work

PIIS1470204519304553

QA_Monographs_Volume124

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The following may well make you think twice before putting a phone in your pocket again.

Americans in their 20s are getting more colon and rectal cancer. Those born in 1990 now face four times the risk of developing rectal cancer and twice the risk of colon cancer, compared to those born around 1950, according to the American Cancer Society. Similar patterns are being seen in many other countries.

Known risk factors for colorectal cancer include obesity, an unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity. But De-Kun Li, an epidemiologist and veteran EMF researcher, doesn’t think they explain what’s going on.

Li offers a different hypothesis: Young people’s habit of carrying their cell phones in the front or back pockets of their jeans. “When placed in trouser pockets, the phones are in the vicinity of the rectum and the distal colon and these are the sites of the largest increases in cancer,” he says.

Li may be onto something. Smartphones on standby mode check in with the network –and transmit RF radiation– more often than previous types of cell phones. And in a pocket, there’s virtually no separation from the body, unlike that assumed in safety testing.

How high are the exposures? There’s been so little research, it’s hard to say.

Read the article here: https://microwavenews.com/news-center/de-kun-li-crc

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