The way I see it, as the population expands the gene pool becomes more diverse. Couple that with increased standards of medical care and many mutations which in previous generations would've died out are allowed to continue. Added to the pot is that people are having children later in life, which carries its own risk to the baby. At its broadest level, "cell malfunction" equates to cancer - that is, the cell effectively mutates and turns against the body. What causes this spontaneous mutation to such a dramatic degree has only really been characterised as "carcinogens" - something which is capable of causing a cancer. The public misconception is "increased risk" equates to "causes" - smoking doesn't cause cancer. It contains component chemicals which can cause cancer, thus increasing the risk upon exposure vs. a baseline. Traffic pollution and even BBQ smoke carries carcinogens.PinkSweets wrote:I agree that it's wonderful to have a decent discussion without the flaming. I'm open to being proved wrong since I will have the opportunity to learn something new.
When I mentioned disease, I was not referring to pathogen related illness. Cell malfunction is the best way I can put it. It's 100% true that science has come a long way and understands what was unknown hundreds of years ago. And to make things clear, I did not want to sound like I was disrespecting science in any way, I'm extremely interested in science: Astronomy, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, etc. Nothing is perfect and there are definite drawbacks to almost everything. Take vaccinations for example - in some cases, they are absolutely necessary and the adverse effects are sometimes worth the risk. In that respect, although there are clear health risks, science prevails. Rabies is some serious shit.
Being an extremely analytical person, even I don't think people should drive themselves crazy with every little worry about whats in this or that if they can help it. Staying informed about the ingredients in your food and supplements as well as being intelligent enough to realize burgers and fries are not the best choice in diet, is absolutely vital. I hate to see people eating pizza for dinner several times per week. That goes for microwavable dinners, too. That's an extreme choice in diet that makes itself crystal clear to stay away from it. That's the type of stuff that's frustrating to me.
As far as diet is concerned, saturated fat and salt are the two main problems. Clogging the arteries and increasing blood pressure is a receipe for disaster. A lot of "TV dinners" and other processed foods are incredibly high in salt whilst processed cheese frequently contains high levels of both saturated fat and salt. The body does require a certain level of all kinds of fat, so the commonly held opinion that saturated fats are "bad" is wrong - too much saturated fat is bad. Too much of anything is bad... but salt and saturated fat are the two main ones which wind our way into our diet without us having to think too hard about it. Whilst a person undoubtably has ultimate responsibility for their own body, the companies manufacturing this filth and then aggresively marketing it (including those who sell it, frequently with greater prominenance than a healthier alternative) must be held to account as well. A takeaway pizza or a McDonald's isn't inherently bad for you once in a while - but if you do it frequently, or worse make a habit of having one for lunch and the other for dinner, you are putting your long term health at serious risk.
I won't enter into the GM argument any further than what I'm going to say here. Most forms of GM crop is simply building on cross-breeding to "enhance" its yield and disease resistance using naturally compatible genes - the "frankenstein foods" idea is wildly overstated, but not entirely without merit. For the most part it is effectively streamlining evolution. However, the surrounding ecosystem may not be able to keep up and it is the impact of the wider environment we should be keeping an eye on - but running scared for our own personal health.
