Breathe in Cow Dung… Throw up cancer
Remember how we scoffed at the village houses where cow dung and its cakes were the regular source of fuel? How the city bred with a high nose think that it is rather unsanitary? Well, it now seems that as much unsanitary it might seem (and be), some things (dirt and bacteria) is actually HELATHY for human beings.
New Scientist – a science mag – now says that dairy farmers who inhale the dust and air laden with cow dung and other dairy “by-products” might actually be less prone to lung cancer….. FIVE TIMES less prone that is! That is a pretty significant odds!
There is also a growing realization that our race to live in sanitized surroundings might actually be causing us a whole lot of harm than good. No wonder cancer is a big disease – something not many had heard a couple of generations back.
New Scientist magazine reports dairy farmers are five times less likely than the general population to develop lung cancer.
It says farmers typically breathe in a lot of dust consisting largely of dried manure, with all the bacteria that grow in it. “As strange as it sounds, epidemiologists are starting to uncover unexpected links between our exposure to dirt and germs, and our risk of cancer later in life.”
The article argued that just as children who are exposed to germs from a young age are less likely to develop leukaemia, adults who have a greater exposure to germs than usual might build up a greater resistance to bugs, and even cancer.
“Some researchers are starting to wonder whether the higher incidence of certain cancers in affluent populations – including breast cancer, lymphoma and melanoma – might also have something to do with sanitised, infection-free living,” it said.