Cancer and sterility linked to food additives says doctor in China

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 28 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT


According to a doctor in China, chemicals and additives which are put into foods are responsible for the increase in cancers and sterility in China.

Professor Zhong Nanshan, director of the Centre for Respiratory Illness in southern Guangdong province, said in the Beijing Daily that there was a sharp increase in many cancers among women in the city of Guangzhou. The cancers that showed a marked increase were ovarian, uterine and intestine cancers.

Male sperm counts are half now what they used to be forty years ago in his province.

As the use of chemical fertilizers, additives, preservatives and hormones in food production increase, so do the numbers of cancers and drop in sperm counts. He says the changes are directly related.

He said the authorities should have more power to control food quality.

His report, however, did not include details of his findings.

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