Mukilteo Musings

What Is It Like to be Married to a Toxicologist?

Part 1

I get that question a lot. People ask me if we are afraid to eat anything or do anything for fear of getting cancer. Actually, it is precisely the opposite. True, my husband has spent 25 years researching and teaching about the causes of cancer, genetic mechanisms of cancer, the risks, what prevents cancer, what foods we should eat and what food we should avoid, and exposures we should avoid. People complain that, "they say everything causes cancer so who cares!" Not true!!

My husband's typical response when I ask him if I should be concerned about the spray on my apple, for example, is, "Wash it before you eat it and then realize you'd have to be a giant rat and eat 500 bushels everyday for a month and then your risk of getting such and such cancer has increased 1%." Seriously, his main advice is common sense: 1. Do not smoke 2. Exercise and keep weight down 3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables of all colors--particularly crociferous vegetables, berries, onions and garlic.

He knows a lot about peanut butter. There is a naturally occurring mold on peanuts that can contain aflatoxin--the most potent carcigen in existence. Aflatoxin causes liver cancer and this is a particular problem in rural areas of mainland China and parts of Africa where farmers leave corn, peanuts, and other grains for long periods and mold grows. They are doing research as we speak giving these people tea made from broccoli sprouts to see if it counteracts the effects of aflatoxin.

Obviously, this is more complicated than I can write here BUT my husband wanted me to stick to the main brands of American peanut butter like Jiff and Skippy when our kids were little. Absolutely, he threw a fit over the health food store peanut butter freshly made sandwiches I craved when I was pregnant. A little bit of mold on one peanut is not a good thing but the processed stuff has more controls on the levels of bad toxins. And he didn't like me to give peanut butter to our kids everyday.

I'll write more later about my life with a person such as this; it is interesting.