Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer in living tissue. Cancer can occur anywhere in your body, and currently Connecticut is on the list of having the highest breast cancer incidence rates for several repetitive years. Carcinomas can begin on skin and tissue linings of the internal organs. Lymphomas start in the immune system, leukemia in the blood and bone marrow, sarcomas in connective tissues, and central nervous system cancer develop in the spinal cord and brain. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies carcinogens by determining how likely they are to cause cancer, with the scale divided into five groups: known, probable, possible, unclassifiable, and probably not carcinogenic. (IARC, 2021)

Mealtime is a major contributor to carcinogic development as processed meat and other cured meat products are strongly linked with the higher risks of cancer development. These foods include but are not limited to lunch meats, meat jerky, bacon, ham, hot dogs, and salami. Acrylamide is a chemical forming in foods cooked at high temperatures such as frying, roasting, and grilling. Acrylamide causes cancer and significant amounts of acrylamide is found in cigarette smoke.

This is an area of interest to me because the amount of acrylamide allowed in food is not regulated. In addition, there is limited media coverage relating to the relationship between food and cancers. The objective of my individual research study is to utilize three basic uses of epidemiology as they relate to carcinogenic health, disease occurrence, identifying the causes of disease, and to find factors that increase a person’s risk of cancer within the environment. These revelations will result in a scientific method of carcinogenic problem solving that will help expose how people get sick and die of cancers, who gets sick and dies, and how to avoid getting sick. In this manner, we can evaluate preventive measures and guide policy decisions. 

References

Can eating burnt foods cause cancer? Cancer Research UK. (2021, November 11). Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/can-eating-burnt-foods-cause-cancer 

What foods and drinks are linked to cancer? Cancer Treatment Centers of America. (2021, September 25). Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2017/10/what-foods-and-drinks-are-linked-to-cancer 

Salkind, N. J., & Shaw, L. A. (2020). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics using R. Amazon. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.amazon.com/Statistics-People-Think-They-Hate/dp/1544381859