Talc and Asbestos Oh, My!

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Johnson & Johnson is facing more than 50,000 lawsuits in the United States brought by people who claim exposure to asbestos in talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder products caused them to develop cancer.

Our new fact sheet describes cancer links to talc body products and key developments in this story. We are posting discovery documents from the lawsuits and related documents here: Johnson & Johnson talc asbestos papers.

Titanium Dioxide goes Nano in our food; Euro’s reject it.

For research published in 2022 study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, scientists examined “the genotoxicity and the intracellular reactive oxygen species induction by physiologically relevant concentrations of three different TiO2 nanomaterials in Caco-2 and HT29-MTX-E12 intestinal cells, while considering the potential influence of the digestion process in the NMs’ physiochemical characteristics.” They found a “DNA-damaging effect dependent on the nanomaterial,” along with the micronucleus assay suggesting “effects on chromosomal integrity, an indicator of cancer risk, in the HT29-MTX-E12 cells, for all the tested TiO2 nanomaterials.” Researchers concluded that the results showcase “evidence of concern” regarding titanium dioxide used as a food additive.

In a study published in the journal Toxicology, researchers examined the effects of exposing human colon cancer cell line (HTC116) titanium dioxide food additives in vitro. “In the absence of cytotoxicity, E171 was accumulated in the cells after 24 hours of exposure, increasing granularity and reactive oxygen species, inducing alterations in the molecular pattern of nucleic acids and lipids, and causing nuclei enlargement, DNA damage and tubulin depolymerization,” the scientists wrote. Researchers removed the additive from the culture, then examined the results 48 hours later. They found, “The removal of E171 was unable to revert the alterations found after 24 h of exposure in colon cells. In conclusion, exposure to E171 causes alterations that cannot be reverted after 48 h if E171 is removed from colon cells.”

Yet, National Institute of Health https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8465434/ An official website of the United States government, stated in 2021:

TiO2 is widely used in food, paints, plastics, printing inks, papers, and biomedical and cosmetic products. Due to its unique properties, TiO2 is also advantageously used in textiles. For example, when applied to textile fibers, it confers various functionalities such as UV protection, photocatalytic self-cleaning and antimicrobial activity, electrical conductivity, and antistatic properties, as well as increased thermal stability. Moreover, it can also be used for solar energy conversion in the production of electronic textiles or wearable electronics. However, when tailoring its desired functionality, TiO2 is usually deposited on the surface of textile fibers, but due to its fairly poor adhesion to the fibers, a certain amount of TiO2 washes away, peels off, or wears off during the product’s lifetime. Therefore, such continuous leaching of TiO2 into the environment results in a potential threat to human health and the ecosystem

Extensive use of TiO2 NPs reasonably raises significant concerns due to their potential nanotoxicity, induced by oxidative stress, which is influenced by ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) formation on the surface of TiO2 NPs in the presence of UV light [9,10,11,12]. After the penetration of TiO2 NPs into the human body, inflammation, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and neurotoxicity may occur. Such nanotoxicity can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, and skin. Special attention must be paid to production workers, in particular, who are in daily contact with high concentrations of TiO2 NPs. For instance, it has been proven that TiO2 NPs smaller than 20 nm cause a higher inflammatory response in human cells [13]. Furthermore, TiO2 NPs also pose certain damage to end users and researchers and, at lower concentrations, TiO2 NPs act as immunomodulatory agents, inducing inflammatory responses through specific interactions with immune system cells [14,15]…

Due to the widespread use of TiO2, exposure to NPs by ingestion, inhalation, or sorption has become virtually inevitable

To complicate our future even more… https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/designer-protein-acts-as-a-switch-for-cellular-circuitry-66200:

Scientists have invented a synthetic protein designed to control the inner workings of cells. In a pair of papers, published yesterday (July 24) in Nature, the researchers demonstrate how the tool can be used to tweak gene expression, orchestrate protein binding events, and cue functional changes in the cell in response to environmental conditions…

…In their demonstrative studies, the researchers used LOCKR to trigger cell death, degrade specific proteins, and direct the movement of materials through living cells. Individual LOCKR proteins can also be connected to form circuits, systems able make changes within the cell in response to internal and external stimuli. The researchers first tested their tool in yeast, then successfully designed a modified version that works in lab-grown human cells…

So now, regarding scientific abuses in general, I’m gonna repeat myself and say I told you so here

and here

and here

Here’s an old (2017) message from Louise Kuo Habakus worth a few minutes of your time.

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