Since blogging earlier this month on the role of government in fashioning our communities to ensure a safe toxic free environment, I have been pondering a recent finding that Cancer is man-made after scientists found almost no trace of the disease in Egyptian mummies although evidence of some other age related diseases were found. The findings seem to indicate that tumours were rare until recent times when pollution and poor diet became issues.
Professor Rosalie David, a biomedical Egyptologist at the University of Manchester, and a colleague, Professor Michael Zimmerman, searched for evidence of cancer in hundreds of mummies, fossils, and ancient medical texts.
The evidence of cancer in ancient Egyptian texts was found to be 'tenuous' with cancer-like problems more likely to have been caused by leprosy or even varicose veins. The ancient Greeks were probably the first to define cancer as a specific disease and to distinguish between benign and malignant tumours but this was to only outwardly visible tumours on the skin, nose, and breast as it was against Greek tradition to open the body.
In the more modern times of the 17th century, the first descriptions of operations for breast cancers arose along with nasal cancer in snuff users, after the recent introduction of snuff Tobacco in 1761, and cancers such scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps in 1775. These co-inside with the rise of the industrial revolution in the very same country. The first reports in scientific literature of distinctive tumours only occurred in the last 200 years or so. At first glance this seems a strong correlation but it also coincides with an increasing rate of urbanisation and life style changes and it is also unclear if this signalled a real rise in the disease, or just a greater medical knowledge.
These findings that cancer is an aliment of the modern industrialised world have been criticised by some in the cancer field like Cancer Research UK but I am not really sure what the fuss is about. I think we can all agree that natural causes like ultraviolet light and some viruses cause cancer and they probably don’t mind the implication that cancer has few inherited cause. Nor do many people dispute the role that Tobacco and lifestyle plays. It has all long been accepted that common environmental factors lead to cancer deaths including tobacco, diet and obesity, infections, radiation, stress, lack of physical activity and environmental pollutants.
It is probably more because of a perception that if the problem is mainly our modern environment rather than lifestyle driven, then the population/patients would feel defeatist as the modern world is not something we can easily avoid.
As a counter to the scientists argument is they point out that most cancer only strike after the age of 50 and this was largely the upper limit of the mummies studied. The scientists dismiss the argument that the ancient Egyptians didn't live long enough to develop cancer as they had other age-related disease such as hardening of the arteries and brittle bones.
In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death with one in three people developing cancer during their lifetime. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare?
The absence of malignancies in mummies was interpreted as indicating their rarity in antiquity, suggesting that cancer-causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialisation and this is fuelled by the excesses of modern life. This was concluded not to be controversial, but because science is about the quest for better understanding of things to help us to choose how to live our lives today. Science still has not got to the route of all cancer and it is fair to say, not all the evidence is in yet.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that cancer is a leading cause of death around the world, accounting for about 13% of all deaths in 2007. Over the last 10 years in the UK, many cancers have increased in frequency by more than 35% and it has increased by 4% for men and 3.7 for woman this year alone.
Cancers are primarily an environmental disease with 90-95% of cases due to lifestyle and environmental factors and 5-10% due to genetics. So we should still go for runs, eat healthily, stop smoking and worry less but we must also consider contamination in one’s environment.
There is a role here for legislation and the Law Society's "Contaminated Land Warning Card" issued in 2001 makes it clear that all solicitors must consider contamination on every property transaction. In England and Wales, Part 2A (the relevant legislation of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 from which this directive comes) is based on risk assessments and Health Criteria Values which describe the levels at which long-term human exposure to chemicals in soil is tolerable or poses a minimal risk. This provides a benchmark for whether land should be determined as contaminated under Part 2A. The number of sites actually addressed under the Part 2A legislation is woeful and has further, starved the industry of funding needed to drive growth and innovation in this still infant industry.
Local Authorities also regularly use the Planning System, rather than Part 2A, to encourage remediation of contaminated land. This is largely the only remediation taking place and these powers are detailed in the Planning Policy Statement 23. While these guidelines are being amended right now, the principle in them is still to stay the same, Local councils must take into consideration the quality of land, air or water and potential impacts arising from development and possibly leading to impacts on health. This is a material planning consideration, in so far as it arises or may arise from or may affect any land use.
The planning permission process starts with a Phase I desk study of land to explore qualitative data for any probable risks and if the case is made a secondary on-site survey to gather quantitative data is stipulated. This is worked out on an exposure assessment, after the hazard has been identified and characterised. From this exposure assessment the risk is characterise and ultimately a plan to manage the risk is set out. The Phase III (or remediation stage) can ultimately lead to reduction in risk from contamination, discharge of planning conditions and successful completion and sign-off of developments. The effort and time spent undertaking and completing Phase I and Phase II reports is wasted unless appropriate remediation and validation works are undertaken.
This planning permission process shifts the cost on to developers and their clientèle as the immediate beneficiaries, but the benefits are often felt by a much wider community. If government wishes to encourage localism it needs to sort out the free rider issue here so we all bear some of the fair cost of decontamination. Disparities like this slow the pace of change and leaves large amounts of contamination in our environments blighting our health. This ineptitude is politically palatable as, in the case of soil, pollution it is largely unseen and its effects can take years to manifest. As they say, out of sight, out of mind.
The polluter pays principle has not been that effective in the past as unsurprisingly many of the great polluting firms of the last 200 years of industrialisation are not around any more and those that are have powerful lawyers on hand and often big piles of money. We cannot rely on the current paradigm to tackle the masses of unproductive brownfield contaminated land. Without proper regulation and likewise some route to funding this remediation, the market will largely stock pile this land due to prohibitive solutions to their on-site contamination. Even though in many cases Phase I and II studies have already shown possible pollution linkages.
Many recently constructed properties are likely to have had contamination issues investigated, if a property pre-dates 1985, and in many cases 1990, it is likely that the land has never been investigated for contamination and might not get it under PPS 23 either. Policies like this are useful but do not get to the many sites that need to be prioritised. The criteria for remediation are left to planning officers who may or may not consult with the local contaminated land officer. Whatever it is, sites still get through and buildings go up on contaminated land while other hazardous sites get some fencing and a warning sign.
Part of the problems comes from less than perfect models like the UK’s CLEA model produced by DEFRA but also the difficulties with the science itself. The CLEA model is used for producing Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) but cannot handle things like interactions of the toxic pollutants nor is it probably calibrated right.
For example the published SGV for arsenic in a residential garden setting is 20mg/kg but in areas such as the Southwest, the Northwest and the Midlands, garden soils can naturally contain arsenic at concentrations in excess of 40mg/kg. So, the residential arsenic SGV is seen as too conservative to be practical in many cases.
In addition, DEFRA's CLEA model generates a value of approximately 1mg/kg for benzo(a)pyrene in a residential setting. Benzo(a)pyrene is a by-product of the fossil fuel burning legacy with the majority of UK soils in urban areas containing background benzo(a)pyrene concentrations in excess of 2.5mg/kg. So the CLEA approach to risk assessment is too conservative to be practical in this instance.
It must be enough to make any local civil servant want to tear out their hair but in my experience they don’t. Let’s not leave them struggling alone on our behalf with our central government. We need to send the politicians a sign that we care about the cleanliness of our environment. At the very least we want our communities not to be toxic.
My favourite part about this month is Movember, a combination of the words 'moustache' and 'November'. This is the annual month-long event of moustaches growing to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate and testicular cancer. A topic not nearly enough discussed amongst men for fear of getting a snigger when they enquire if you passed your medical exam. Fashionable or not a grand old tache can often be remarkable and this is what the men’s health issues really need.
If you want to help out with the spirit of the season but can’t grow a mo of your own, for physical or social reasons, could I suggest you just use a face mask as worn by fashionable surgeons. It could kill two birds with one stone, raise awareness about pollution and help keep your mo status only for those in the know.
If you have concern over any potential local land contamination you should contact your local council and address your questions to their Contaminated Land Officer.
Discoloured soil, polluted water, distressed vegetation and significant odours are some frequent things you might look out for in your soil.
Other things that might be signs of possible land contamination are:
• Evidence of abandoned storage tanks
• Stained soil, distressed vegetation, groundwater seeps & standing pools
• Pits, ponds or lagoons which may have been used for waste disposal
• Hazardous materials or oil storage drums
• Unidentifiable containers
• Friable asbestos, including wall, ceiling & pipe insulation
• Drains & sumps
• Abandoned electrical transformers & hydraulic equipment
• Artificial fill & altered topography
• Septic tanks & drain fields
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