A carcinogen is anything that is known to lead to the formation of cancer. You need to know that a carcinogen can be a compound that is in what you drink, the food you eat or any other product that you use. It is important to understand that coming into contact with carcinogens does not mean that you have cancer. In that case, you will find that some people will get cancer when they come into contact with these compounds while others will not. The following are some of the carcinogens that people have considered safe in the past.
To start with, tobacco is one type of carcinogen that has been ignored. There are those who choose to smoke it in the form of cigarettes while others derive fun when using hookah pipes. There are a lot of people who still do not know that tobacco is a carcinogen. Smoking reduces your life expectancy by up to 10 years. If you have been smoking, there is the need to consider quitting to avoid dying early from cancer.
There is the need to know that alcohol too is carcinogenic. Consuming alcohol in great amount has been associated with causing breast, esophageal, liver and mouth cancers. There is the need to know that taking alcohol leads to the formation of acetaldehyde which metabolizes to form acetate. There is the need to know that taking alcohol leads to accumulation of fats that cause obesity. Having excess fats in your body is known to cause cancer.
There is also the need to know that radon is carcinogenic. There is the need to know that radon is a common gas as it is in the air, water and also in the soil. In concentrated amount, there is the need to know that radon is carcinogenic. There is the need to know that some techniques used to kill weed such as the use of Roundup weed killer expose you to carcinogens.
There is also need to know that processed meat is carcinogenic. Sausages, bacon, and lunchmeat are substances that have carcinogen. The reason is that they contain nitrates which are the compounds that have carcinogens. When these foodstuffs are heated the nitrates forms a compound known as nitrosamine which causes several types of cancer.
There is the need to know about these examples of carcinogens that you previously thought were safe to take necessary measures. There is a need, in that case, to know about them so as to make an informed decision when you want to buy these products. There is the need to hire an attorney in case you think that using these products might have caused your cancer.