Studies reveal that boiling or grilling meats over too much heat creates chemicals, known as HCAs, that may be carcinogenic. I think it's a fair assumption that nobody wants their summer barbecue to be cancer-causing, so follow these safe cooking tips to reduce that risk:

Marinate your meats before grilling them. Studies have shown that marinating before grilling works very well to reduce the amount of potentially dangerous chemicals in meats.

Don't eat the charred parts. Simple enough, right? If the research is sound and charred meat may be carcinogenic, then an easy solution is to completely avoid any blackened portions while you feast on your beast.

Grill meats at a moderate temperature over embers, not fired-up coals. And flip your meats often, as this prevents charring and also kills bacteria.

Avoid meats that are high in fat, such as ribs or sausage, and remove skin from chicken. The added fat will drip into the flames below and cause smoke and flame flares.

For more ways to keep your summer grilling healthy, follow this link to the website for the American Institute for Cancer Research.

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Here's a new item that hit home for me: A recent study has found high levels of carcinogens in the water near the Alberta Oil Sands. Alberta's my home province, and it's also a huge source of oil. But land up north, particularly around the oil sands, has been raped and pillaged for so many years and the effects of abusing land for oil without any thought to long-term effects are beginning to surface. Levels of harmful substances are alarmingly high, according to researchers. One even says this could be a worse disaster than the Exxon Valdez.
Still, it's nothing new for people living in these communities. Residents complained of seeing oily scum in their drinking water and they've noticed higher incidences of cancer among residents than in other areas of the province.

I've lived in Alberta for a long time and I've seen the effects of the influx of oil money. But at the expense of our health? That's a mighty hefty price to pay.

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Most of us are aware of health risks associated with the foods we eat and the ingredients in them, but I suspect that many people are in the dark about the dangerous ingredients in cosmetics, since, unlike foods, we don't ingest them. But cosmetics can be scary too, and here's a prime example: The FDA has recently approved a black pigment to be used in cosmetics that contains small, but supposedly safe, amounts of carcinogens.

D&C Black No. 3 is also known as bone black, which is interesting considering where it comes from -- it's made from cattle bones that are heated to over 700 degrees. Mmm, sounds lovely, huh? But regardless of how gross it is to make makeup out of charred cow bones, I have to ask -- is there any amount of carcinogens that are safe? What do you think?

(via The Beauty Brains)

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