IARC

The Devilishly Hard Question I’m Asked All the Time

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 16 May 2025 19:17:39 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Usually, the questioner has seen or heard something, often through social media, about a loathsome substance that is set to destroy their life or about one that promises to improve their health “naturally.” The answer to the question is almost always “no, it isn’t true, but ... The reason for the qualifier is that science isn’t white or black, it is best seen as several shades of gray.

Confronting Nefarious Nitrosamines

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 09 May 2025 20:44:53 +0000

“Boil the nipples!” was the advice given in 1984 by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. to parents who were bottle feeding their infants or calming them with pacifiers. The presence of nitrosamines, compounds that had been found to cause cancer in animals, had been recently detected in rubber products and the concern was that they could be transferred to babies.

Processing Information About Processed Meat

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:06:53 +0000

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization lists processed meats in its “Category 1,” reserved for substances known to cause cancer in humans. There is really nothing all that noteworthy here except for the official classification. Unofficial advice about minimizing processed meat has been dispensed by nutritional scientists for a long time. And for good reason.

Methylene Chloride Can Strip Paint but Can Also Strip Years Off Your Life

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 15 May 2024 04:03:26 +0000

The culprit in this heinous crime was methylene chloride, also known as dichloromethane, a liquid that easily evaporates and can be readily inhaled. Even minimal inhalation can cause light-headedness and nausea, but more extensive exposure can cause respiratory depression and possibly fatal cardiac arrhythmia. The unfortunate victim had been refinishing the bathtub, a task that involves stripping off the old coating, a task at which methylene chloride is particularly adept.

No, Eating French Fries is Not the Same as Smoking Cigarettes

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 10 May 2024 15:46:56 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.