Many grease-resistant fast-food wrappers and boxes contain potentially harmful chemicals that can leach into food, a new study contends. Testing on more than 400 samples from restaurants nationwide revealed that nearly half of fast-food wrappers and one out of five paperboard food boxes contained detectable levels of fluorine, said lead researcher Laurel Schaider. Previous studies have linked some fluorinated chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) to kidney and testicular cancer, low birth weight, thyroid disease, decreased sperm quality, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, and immune system problems in children, the study authors said in background notes.
There are a number of habits that put us at greater risk of cancer - and almost as many things we can do to decrease that risk. But knowing what those habits are can be a bit more difficult, especially with new evidence coming in all the time clarifying what we know - and don't know - about those risks. To help get a sense of what the public knows, the American Institute for Cancer Research surveyed about 1,000 people about whether or not certain factors had an effect on whether a person develops cancer. In a new report out Wednesday, the AICR detailed the cancer risks Americans are good at identifying, the ones they're not so good at knowing, and the ones they tend to get wrong.