by John Atchison

Created on: July 19, 2010   Last Updated: July 20, 2010

Let’s face it, cancer does not discriminate.  It kills white or black, Asian or Hispanic, male or female.  It is just about everywhere you turn if you go by various reports that surface from researchers.  There are forms of these so-called carcinogens that many of you could probably recite if someone asked you the question “what things can you think of that cause cancer?".  Things such as cigarettes and asbestos instantly come to mind.  However, what about the ones that you have never heard of? 

The ones you don’t know are the real silent killers.  They may be in what you eat or found in your workplace.  It is a scary thought, isn’t it?  Well there is a report currently released by the American Cancer Society (ACS), which lists the top 20 of these suspected cancer causers that they would like to call in for questioning so they can be interrogated much closer.  In this article, we will go through the top 5 offenders on this list and where they can be found. 

Styrene – Ah. Styrene Man!  If your one of those legion of pot smokers that tell your friends that there is no supposed link between cancer and weed, think again my stoned amigos.  Styrene, and its chemical compound colleague styrene-7,-8-oxide, has showed enough evidence when studied with its effect on animal subjects to make it a person of interest and thus a member of the top 5 of this list.  Though only a small percentage has been linked to cancer in humans, it does not seem like the risk to take.  Not only is it an ingredient in cigarettes and marijuana, but scary thought is it is found in foam food packaging.  Evidently its almost impossible to avoid.  When the CDC did testing on study participants last year, a whopping 87 percent had it in their urine.  Yikes! 

Tetrachloroethylene – It has some other names, like PCE or PERC, but anyway you spell it, it is bad news.  Where is this member of the top 5 found?  It can be found in anything  from heavy industry to your dry cleaning!  Get these frightening realities.  In medical testing on rats, it has already been determined that it causes liver cancer and leukemia.  Other studies have it tied to esophageal and cervical cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Its found in the dry cleaners and metal finishing plants, but a scary thought for hunters is that its also used in taxidermy places too. 

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