[tweener]

I just read an article that farm-raised Salmon is very high in contaiminants and the "authorities" are recommending that people don't eat it more than once a month.  I don't know the sources, but it bothers me that our food supply is becoming contaminated in so many ways.


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John

[bezoar]

I read something about that too -- that the farm raised fish are high in contaminants.  You'd think when they're farm raised, they'd be purer, huh?

Bezoar

[Donnah]

Apparently the farm raised salmon get a lot of salmon lice too.

[tweener]

The farm raised Salmon are "farmed" in the ocean, but confined to cages and fed commercial feed.  (National Geographic had an article a few months ago is how I know anything about this.)  So, since costal waters are usually more contaminated than deep ocean, it makes sense.  Maybe.  Maybe this "study" was bogus too.


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John

[tweener]

quote:Originally posted by cannabinoid

From an evolutionary standpoint, why did we evolve a metabolism mechansim that can damage our DNA?  Modern metabolisms all originate with glucolysis, which is supposedly VERY ancient.  It's just the very end of the proton transport chain (where oxygen uptakes a proton to form water) where oxygen is needed.  

Is it the reaction of oxygen with OTHER things in the cell that causes the problem or is it a "misfiring" of the proton gradient that causes an incomplete reaction of protons and oxygen leading to free radicals?  Inquiring minds want to know!

...

I would think from an evolutionary standpoint this would not matter much.  When aerobic metabolism was evolving, the life span of the individauls was very short, thus the cancers caused by free radicals would have little or no impact on the survival of the genes.  Even now that it is firmly established, the only species that have a problem are the ones that live an unnaturally long life span (like humans and maybe their pets), and even then they have usually finished their reproductive years before cancer sets in.


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John

[Ylide]

But there are other long-lived animals though, many of which have been around for millions of years.  I've never heard of whale or turtle cancer.  Of course, whales and turtles don't smoke or inhale asbestos.



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[luckywood]

There are many alzheimers that have been cured through 'THE TOLE'S WAY OF MEDICATIONS'
 Please look into google and search

Thanks

[tweener]

quote:Originally posted by cannabinoid

But there are other long-lived animals though, many of which have been around for millions of years.  I've never heard of whale or turtle cancer.  Of course, whales and turtles don't smoke or inhale asbestos.



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Animals do get cancer but I was curious and did some searching.  Whales of several species are developing cancers.  I'm not sure if the rate is increasing or the increased study is finding more cancers.  Animals of any species have evolved to maintain their lifespan.  Humans are the only animals that have artificially (non-evolutionary) increased their lifespan.  So, it's my hypothesis that the cancer rate (and other diseases) is increasing because our lives are longer than our bodies are designed to support.  Just a side effect of the increased lifespan.


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John

[Ylide]

That makes perfect sense, John.  Your body deals with cancerous cells every day. DNA is constantly destroyed or mutated by various environmental factors (sun UV, background radiation, free radicals from foods and oxygen, pollutants) but you have mechanisms for dealing with the mutated cells.  There's always the small chance your body won't catch the mutation for one reason or another.  The longer you live, the more contaminants you expose yourself to, the greater the risk.  



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[bezoar]

And the longer you live, the weaker your immune system gets, and I don't base that on any studies I've read but just on personal experience.  Seems the elderly don't have the resistance that younger people have and they also take longer to recover, and don't respond as well to antibiotics.

[tweener]

Getting old is hell.


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John

[Ylide]

That's why I changed careers.  I sure wasn't going to find the secret to immortality by keeping stupid teenagers out of corporate networks.





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[bezoar]

Getting old is hell, but as they say, consider the alternative.  Actually, I'm lucky.  I feel good, just look older.  Honestly, I'm happy to still be here, so it's not hell for me.  Cannabinoid, what career did you change to?

[tweener]

I don't really feel old either, but I don't feel as young as when I was younger.


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John

[bezoar]

To the extent that I feel a lot smarter, I don't feel as young.  But I am enjoying my life a hell of a lot more now than I did when I was younger -- and I laugh a lot more now too, even at myself.

[tweener]

Physically, I feel a lot younger now than I did two years ago.  Mentally, I'm realizing what "over the hill" really means.  I know (hope) that I have many good years left before things really start falling apart, but I know it's coming.  I'm just trying to slow it down a little.


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John

[Donnah]

That's the advantage of having been sick and in pain so much of my younger life.  In the words of James Brown "Oh, I feel good, just like I knew that I could!"

Yesterday I saw a doctor who hasn't seen me since I was at my worst.  It took a moment for her to recognize me, and I got a real kick out of her shocked expression.

[sphygmo]

But what about Iris Murdoch? Does this mean she didn't use her brain in an analytical manner? []