Cheryl Crowe: Breast cancer from a water bottle?

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Chattypatti
Chattypatti Member Posts: 241
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
I just read the most incredible story that leaving a water bottle in a hot car causes carcenogic chemicals to be released into the water, which in turn causes cancer if you drink the water. I've long heard about the rumor regarding using plastic in microwaves, but this latest one is now "out there". Anyway, the article stated that Cheryl Crowe was on the Ellen show and stated that this was how she got breast cancer. Did anyone see that? Could she really have said that? Just wondering if that part of the story is just also part of this urban legend??
Patti
«1

Comments

  • MinAZ
    MinAZ Member Posts: 368
    edited July 2007
    It seems to be part of the urban legend about water bottles. Take a look at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp
  • Catherine
    Catherine Member Posts: 305
    edited July 2007
    I have heard that about not leaving water bottles in a hot car. It's the same principle as the microwave thing. Who knows what causes cancer? It's anyone's guess at this point. Personally I think it's caused by all the hormones injected into meat and dairy products.

    Catherine
  • Chattypatti
    Chattypatti Member Posts: 241
    edited July 2007
    Thanks. I did look this up first and the person who sent me the email still insists it's true because:(and I quote directly)
    "Please note this article speaks only of plastic bottles, which is not the issue. It is plastic bottles left to heat up in the car, and then consumed later. The article also states that the risk of carcinogens in plastic bottles (NOT heated - just plastic bottles) it is still debatable, but Snopes choose to conclude that means that water left in bottles left in hot cars is safe to consume, or that the claim that it isn't is false. It's misleading at best. I've read many simlar articles about this issue, as well as heating up foods in plastic containers and/or covered with plastic wrap in the microwave. There is no doubt in my mind this is not a smart idea after what I've read. Obviously, plastic bottles in and of themselves are safe."

    I just choose not to believe this stuff. However, I'd like to know if Cheryl Crowe really believes this is how she got breast cancer. I find that incredible. Could she really have said that? I hope it's just all part of the rumor.
  • MinAZ
    MinAZ Member Posts: 368
    edited July 2007

    It would be great if any of us really knew how we got it, wouldn't it? There is so much pollution of so many kinds these days, I don't know how they'll ever pinpoint causes!

  • marshakb
    marshakb Member Posts: 1,664
    edited July 2007
    Catherine, you are right on target I believe. Hormones are injected into chickens also to make the breast grow bigger and faster. So meat, (chicken and cow) dairy, eggs, not to mention all the birth control the docs have pushed all these years. If i had a daughter I would have a serious talk with her about alternative birth control! Our bodies produce the hormones we need, we are pouring it in by the buckets in the US.

    Sure wish there was a way to be heard concerning the food supply. How can they not see the correlation of increased hormonal breast cancer? It is turning into an epidemic if you think about it or research online.


    Breast cancer from a water bottle?? Pftt.

    Marsha
  • AlaskaDeb
    AlaskaDeb Member Posts: 2,601
    edited July 2007
    Marsha-

    I agree that the hormones in the food supply is creepy. We grow a lot of our own food, not just because it tastes better, but because we know what it IN it. There is a lot of supposition that one of the reasons that girls are going through puberty at a younger age is all those hormones...

    I have no idea what caused my cancer, but I think overheated water bottles is FAR down the list of things I would spend time worrying about....

    I think Sheryl Crow is a great singer, but so far I have not been impressed with much she has had too say about her cancer and/or cancer treatment in general.

    Deb C
  • JustOne
    JustOne Member Posts: 226
    edited July 2007
    Not a Cheryl Crowe fan in the least. Like Deb, I haven’t been impressed by her interviews on the subject of hers or BC in general. Hopefully though, even she didn’t say this about the water bottles.

    I agree with you all on the hormones in our foods aspect. I fear for my daughter and even worse, grand daughters future health. I have a great-niece who at age 10 is receiving some sort of shots every month to stop her rapid development. Dr. blames all the hormones in food. Scary stuff.

    ~Pam
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2007
    Pam, my brother is supposed to be "watching" his eight year old daughter for this very same thing. I can't remember what it's called. However, I think he's stopped worrying about it. "The mother" is out of the home.

    From what I have read and understand these children grow to rapidly to quickly then their growth is stunted. I suppose the body tells itself to stop growing because these hormonal changes are not supposed to happen at such a young age.

    From what I undertand my niece has slightly started "developing." Eight years old is way to young!
    Shirley
  • notme
    notme Member Posts: 161
    edited July 2007
    If the hormones we are ingesting caused our cancers, then wouldn't the test of the tumor tissue be positive for hormones? My tissue had no estrogen, but a scant of progesterone.

    notme
  • KariLynn
    KariLynn Member Posts: 1,079
    edited July 2007
    ...and wouldn't it be more widespread than 1 of 8? I think it would be 8 of 8.

    I think all this can contribute, but it's some mysterious combination of our genetic makeup and environment.
  • gwenn
    gwenn Member Posts: 106
    edited July 2007

    My eyes are rolling as I read this post. I've lost respect for her if she truly believes this. However a lot of people believe this. My brother was convinced the reason that I got breast cancer was because I bought microwave meals and heated them in a microwave and ate the daily at work.

  • AlaskaDeb
    AlaskaDeb Member Posts: 2,601
    edited July 2007
    Oh Gwen...I got ya beat for nutty "reasons" I got cancer. A friend of my DH told him that I got cancer of my "female organs" (the idiot could bring himself to use the word ‘breast’) because I had unresolved emotional issues with my sister or mother! I kid you not, this fool actually lectured my husband and told him I should go into counseling with my mother and it would heal my cancer. It is a damn good thing this fool didn't say it too me or HE might have had some issues that needed resolving...like how to remove my foot from......well...you get the idea.

    fools will be fools. I just try and avoid them as much as possible! I too had many people send me the water bottle and plastic-wrap e-mails. I wish the cause were really something that simple….

    Deb C
    Who does not suffer fools gladly….
  • kimmytoo
    kimmytoo Member Posts: 206
    edited July 2007
    You know, my daughter started her menstrual cycle when she was 10, has been shaving her pits since 8, and now at 12 is in a B cup. She's way too immature to have the body that she does (acts more like a 9 yr old...) Her sister is 10 and has not one single armpit hair, and is completely flat chested.

    We went hormone-free 4 years ago when I was diagnosed (ok, not totally, but milk, cheese and meat- they still eat McDonalds and pizza and stuff occassionally)

    I don't get it, but it is pretty scary to know that something is switching their puberty on earlier and earlier.
  • saluki
    saluki Member Posts: 2,287
    edited July 2007
    I haven't followed Cheryl Crows interviews so I can't comment, but when Snopes uses the FDA to clarify whats safe---Well after the debacles of the last few months---

    It just makes me wonder how much I want to trust Snopes for the truth.

    It also scares me when these guys start referring to "acceptable levels"

    "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water as a packaged food product and, for bottled water and all other foods and their packaging, FDA has determined that PET meets standards for food contact materials."

    He said the concentrations of the chemical are so low that they are below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "levels of concern."

    "The acceptable intake established by the EPA is .05 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. The study's findings are noted in "parts per billion," making a comparison difficult, though the study notes that the amount of bisphenol A found fell below the government standard.
    Some cities, such as San Francisco, have enacted bans on toys and other plastic products containing bisphenol A for children under three years old."

    I don't heat any plastic in the microwave,(I'm back to good ole Pyrex with lids) and I'm careful about rewrapping my cheese unless I buy it from WF.
    I don't store olive oil or vinegar in plastic---Don't know what will turn out to be truth and what won't but I'm more comfortable that way.

    I am guilty of leaving disposable plastic bottles of water in a hot car in if I've forgotten to take a pill I'll take a swig of that water and wash the pill down---not too bright on my part but more for a bacteria concern rather than a cancer one. But, now a days if I'm going to continually refill my water bottle its a Nalgene bottle I'm going to reuse-----Just for my own comfort level.

    Just another view.

    Susie
  • AlaskaDeb
    AlaskaDeb Member Posts: 2,601
    edited July 2007
    Thanks Susie-

    Everyone has their own comfort level for what goes in their body. I try and control as much as I can and try not to sweat what I can't, or don't take the time, to control.

    I am sure a hundred years from now people will look back and be horified by some aspect of our lives now that we can not even imagine, that they will know caused problems. It would be nice to really KNOW what the problem things are...

    Anyone got a spare time machine sitting around???
  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited July 2007
    The only thing I've read is that once you've opened a diet drink, you need to refrigerate it. I learned that years back as my mom would drink diet soft drinks all the time and leave the bottles in her study and drink them the next day with no refrigeration. It took us a long time (and this was years back..more than 25 years ago)to remind her to refrigerate the bottles (and not drink so much diet stuff).

    I try to keep myself hydrated (as does my dh) and I carry a bottle of water with me everywhere. But, I will leave it in the car and return to my hot car and down the bottle. I don't think this is what caused my cancer.

    I agree with you Deb..we all have our comfort levels and will put what we think is okay into our bodies. I am a sceptic about all of these things because they keep doing more and more research and keep changing their theories.

    If you think about it...the less research back when we were growing up, the less illnesses or worries we had. I think that in the end, our bodies are either succeptible to cancer or not, and along with environmental factors..some of us will get cancer and some will not and it won't make much difference whether we drank out of a water bottle when it was hot, reused or whatever...
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2007
    Before I was diagnosed with bc, I used to put my bottled water in the freezer - it would last all day and stay cold. I used to love to do that. Over the last 2 years, I have read about how freezing the plastic bottles, and warm bottles in your car could cause cancer. I know there have been alot of articles disputing this, but I have stopped doing both.

    I hate the thought of hormones being in our food. Seems like we need more controls over that. Also hate that the animals are being given antibiotics - I think thats one of the reasons we have MRSA now.

    Ive never been a Cheryl Crow fan - much of her music has no melody. But I am sad, she got bc at such a young age.

    Nicki
  • barbara913
    barbara913 Member Posts: 133
    edited July 2007
    i have worked in a pediatric office for the last 20 years and i also agree w/ the hormone thing. i grew up in the 70's and maybe one girl had the "big boobs"... now they all do!! we also have some girls getting shots to stop the early onset of puberty, which is called precoscious (sp?) puberty. i also took hormone shots while i was trying to get pregnant and i think that had something to do w/ me getting cancer... but when you are desperate for a baby, you will do just about anything.
    barbara
  • threadbear
    threadbear Member Posts: 50
    edited July 2007

    I vaguely remember the Ellen show when Sheryl Crow was on. I don't remember her saying specifically that she got cancer that way, but she did promote a brand of bottled water ( I forget which brand) that was supposedly safe. Her concern also was that all the bottled water sitting in hot warehouses would contain carcinogens, even after they are refrigerated at home. Ironically, I hardly ever bought bottled water before BC. I started buying it when I was in chemo last summer, and my mouth was dry all the time. My personal opinion is that my cancer was either caused, or exacerbated by my use of progesterone cream- my tumor was ER-, PR+, HER2neu+. But none of my docs will agree with me. Any way, I told my sisters and my daughter to never use the stuff.

  • LittleG
    LittleG Member Posts: 46
    edited July 2007
    I don't know all the details of the water thing. But my naturopath told me to get rid of the platic bottle I carry my water around in my car with, and replace it with glass. And it dosn't take a rocket scientist to know all the crap they make plastic out of. Obviously it goes somewhere!!

    g
  • lam
    lam Member Posts: 202
    edited July 2007
    Quote:

    Anyone got a spare time machine sitting around???quote]

    Deb, if you find this PLEASE, PLEASE can I borrow it too!!

    Hugs,
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2007
    I read some magazine articles about Sheryl Crow and her bc and in those, she mentioned how she is now more aware of things like the water bottle issue and how she tries to be healthier now...I didn't see the show where she supposedly claimed her bc was DUE to water bottles - hopefully she was misquoted and didn't really say that.

    As for the hormones, I live in Canada where it is illegal to give cows and chickens hormones, but our bc rates are similar to the US and I am amazed at how early girls develop now! My daughter has 3 friends who all started to menstruate in grade 3 (they were all 10 or 11!) Shocking and upsetting as girls that age should not be buying pads and tampons but maybe still considering dolls!! Now, who knows what "illegal" means here - there could well be hormones given to our cattle and poultry in some sneaky way but if they are not, then there goes that theory because Canadian women get bc too and our girls develop too soon also!

    It is staggering to think of everything that "causes" cancer! Right after I was diagnosed, I got a book called "Foods that fight Cancer" so I changed my diet according to that book's recommendations. Pretty simple - eat lots of fruit and veggies, specifically brocolli but it also talked about things like soy (not sure whether it was good or bad for bc) and it recommended having a glass of red wine daily, flax seed etc. Well, once I started doing more research, I now hear that alcohol should be avoided completely, flax seed is a phytoestrogen so maybe should be avoided...sigh it's all so confusing! I guess the thing is to eat healthy overall and still enjoy things you like because life is too short not to enjoy some vino and chocolate cake from time to time! (ha ha - this from a woman who has gained 18lbs on chemo so far!!!) Cheers!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2007
    We did a story on the safety of bottled water in the last issue of the magazine (I'm a publisher). I found this website while researching:

    http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/halden_dioxins.html
  • saluki
    saluki Member Posts: 2,287
    edited July 2007
    Thank you Felicia for that article. I have been avoiding storing certain foods in plastic wraps or heating any plactics in the microwave. And all my teflon went into the trash long ago---the exception being my rice cooker----(Just could not live without that!) I couldn't remember why I was avoiding the products. I just felt more comfortable staying away. Your article reminded me why.

    "Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food."

    Water bottles have been more of an economic issue for me.
    I couldn't afford all that bottled water nor was I able to carry the cases. And, I didn't feel comfortable about my repeated use of the caps that I could never sufficiently clean.

    So, it was filtered water and a Nalgene refillable bottle--no problems cleaning and economical.
  • Bugs
    Bugs Member Posts: 1,719
    edited July 2007
    Saluki,
    What is a Nalgene bottle? Are they glass?

    Bugs
  • aliciamaris
    aliciamaris Member Posts: 65
    edited July 2007
    I think that the early puberty issue is related at least in part to overall better nutrition - it's the amount of body fat that seems to trigger puberty in girls, I believe. However, all the hormones we consume can't be good for us. The problem with plastics is that lots of petroleum-based products act like hormones when they're ingested. I have a client who is a Ph.D. biologist who works in biotech and he told me recently that you can plot the increased use of plastics in our society with the increased cancer rate and they rise at the same rate. He strongly believes that exposure to plastics increases cancer because of the hormone-mimicking aspect of plastics. Various pesticides and some foods do the same thing - soy, for example, is a weak estrogen. The jury is still out about cause and effect - it will most likely end up being some combination of genetic susceptibility, exposure during crucial developmental stages (I know that at puberty I was exposed to an unusually heavy pesticide load because of living in farm country, and radiation from the above-ground tests in Nevada) and cumulative exposure over the course of a lifetime. I buy plastic water bottles but recycle them - I don't reuse them and won't drink out of them if they've been left in the sun. Not that I believe that they directly cause cancer, but I don't need more toxins in my body. I bought a stainless steel water bottle and try to use that.

    Alicia
  • saluki
    saluki Member Posts: 2,287
    edited July 2007
    Frankly Bugs--As a New Cat mother I learned that keeping my water in glass and open around them--was an ongoing argument as to who the water belonged to --and they always won until in self defense I got the plastic bottles with lids so me and my chairs were not getting perpetual baths!

    As a matter of fact had I to guess I would imagine the Crow Bru ha ha was probably over a Nalgene bottle.

    Here is what I know -

    Apparently, Nalgene puts out more than one type of bottle and it is the newer and more expensive Lexan bottle that is in question. The cheaper bottle which I use is
    plastic #2, HDPE, is relatively benign
    ----------------------------------------------------
    Nalgene Water Bottles Appear to be Unsafe


    Although the colorful, durable and lightweight Nalgene water bottles have been the hydration choice of outdoor enthusiasts, scientific evidence has shown the plastic used to make the bottle may pose serious health hazards.

    Made from Lexan polycarbonate resin and marketed through Nalgene Outdoor Products, Lexan was envisioned to be the ideal material for water bottles due to its durability and the way the material of the bottle didn’t hold any odors or flavors to distort the taste of the liquid being stored in the bottle.

    A study that involved researching birth defects and developmental abnormalities that caused miscarriages in mice raised the suspicions on all polycarbonate plastics.

    The study revealed a sudden increase in aneuploidy, a defect consisting of abnormal loss or gain of chromosomes, which in humans could possibly lead to miscarriages or disorders such as Down Syndrome.

    The spontaneous jump in mouse aneuploidy was traced back to a lab worker, who used a strong detergent to clean the mice cages and water bottles. The effects of the detergent resulted in the plastic attaching itself to bisphenol, a chemical that mimics the female hormone estrogen.

    Research has shown that low BPA levels have had an adverse effect on prostate development, tumors, breast tissue development, sperm count and enlargement of fat cells in the body.

    Scientists have warned against allowing any polycarbonate plastics near your food or water and stated the devastating effects of these chemicals posed the biggest risk to babies during early development.

    Despite the warnings, polycarbonate plastics continue to be used in a wide variety of products including food storage cans, dental sealants and the Nalgene Lexan bottles.

    The Daily Barometer
    Dr. Mercola's Comment:

    Well, they fooled me. Even though I knew plastics could leach BPA from the study I posted last year the research did not yet indicate that Lexan leached this chemical. Now, there is enough of a concern that I am throwing away my Nalgene Lexan bottles.

    The only time I used them is when I traveled though, as glass is far too fragile to travel with on planes. Nalgene does make a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottle that is identical in size and shape to the more popular Lexan model and that is the one I will be getting.

    Plastics that are safer to use for storing food and beverages, none of which are known to leach harmful substances include:

    * Polypropylene, designated "#5 PP"
    * High-density polyethylene, designated "#2HDPE"
    * Low-density polyethylene, designated "#4 LDPE"

    So pay attention to the container you store your water in. If you can’t use glass, only use one of the above "safe" plastic jars. Also, don’t forget to apply this information when using baby bottles and other food containers.

    Related Articles:
  • saluki
    saluki Member Posts: 2,287
    edited July 2007

    Very funny, that had I had the money I would have gone for the more substantial looking and apparently less safe Lexan bottle.

  • BethNY
    BethNY Member Posts: 2,710
    edited March 2008
    This is one of the oldest HOAX's in the book. There are so many myth busters about the FALSE email that said it was from (my alma matter) it got passed around 3 years ago, and there are tons of articles debunking the dioxin myth, even on the american cancer society site @ www.cancer.org

    Status:
    False

    Update:
    June 2007: A new variant of the hoax warning claims that drinking water from plastic water bottles that have been left in a car can cause breast cancer (details in commentary below).

    Example:(Submitted, February 2005)
    FW: Cancer News from John Hopkins

    No plastics in micro

    No water bottles in freezer.

    No plastic wrap in micro

    Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in their newsletters worth noting... This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

    Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Don't freeze your plastic water bottles with water as this also releases dioxins in the plastic.

    Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle hospital was on a TV program explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital.)

    He was talking about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.

    This applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxins into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Dioxins are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, without the dioxins.

    So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

    To add to this, Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels.

    Pass this on to your family & friends & those that are important in your life!

    If you received this email-- its totally false.
    Check out www.hoaxbusters.org
  • BethNY
    BethNY Member Posts: 2,710
    edited March 2008
    heres another one:

    Comments: This widely circulated email — actually an updated version of an earlier message dating from 2002 — not only contains inaccurate information, it is falsely attributed to a Johns Hopkins University newsletter. No such information was ever issued by any department of the university.

    To combat the inaccuracies, Professor Rolf Halden of Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health addressed the email's opening allegation in a special news release:

    OC&PA: What do you make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins can be released by freezing water in plastic bottles?
    RH: No. This is an urban legend. Freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don’t think there are.
    The rest of the email's claims are identical to those in the 2002 version and are covered in my previous commentary. See the sources listed below for additional information.



    Email This Article

    Sources and further reading:

    Researcher Dispels Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles
    Johns Hopkins Public Health News Center, 24 June 2004
    Plastic Rap
    Washington Post, 15 September 2004

    Despite Email Hoax, Freezing Water Bottles OK
    NBC5i.com, 20 August 2004

    Microwave Ovens, Plastic Wrap and Dioxin
    Netlore Archive, updated 5 November 2004

    Last updated: 12/12/05


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