I'd like to share an article outlining some of the toxic substances that can be found in common things that many people use every day.

http://smartklean.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/the-top-12-cancer-causing-products-in-the-average-home/

It can be argued that many of these ingredients are in minute amounts and therefore have little effect on someone's health. "Everything causes cancer these days" is a common belief so people tend to not really pay much attention when articles like this surface but when you factor in the fact that many of these items are applied or consumed daily it is easy to see how they can accumulate rapidly in the body and begin to affect our biology.

Here is a great study done by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) that studied the toxins found in peoples bodies.

http://www.ewg.org/sites/bodyburden1/es.php

The average person probably uses between 10 to 30 things per day that contribute to their body's toxic load. Bodycare products like shampoo/ conditioner/ lotion/ moisturizers/ cleansers/ sunscreen (parabens), toothpaste (artificial colors & sweeteners), clothes washed in detergent, produce with pesticides & GMOs, meat with hormones & preservatives, food cooked in plastic containers (phthalates) or non-stick coatings(PFCs), pollution and chemicals in the air and water (PCBs & Bis A), cell phone radiation and all topped off with an unhealthy dose of daily stress contribute greatly to the chronic disease that most of our population is experiencing.

And when you factor in other potential contributors like birth control, HRT, living near industrial plants, overall unhealthy eating habits, alcohol and tobacco use, pharmaceutical drugs, and countless others it is clear how easily our bodies become inundated with harmful substances.

Now I would never expect someone to remove every potential cancer/disease causing ingredient from their life but I believe doing your best to limit these things will certainly improve your chances of avoiding many chronic diseases.