In California, it seems you're never far from a reminder about cancer.
You can't park a car indoors or order a cup of coffee in the Golden State without seeing a warning about the various ways your cancer risk might spike.
That's thanks to a state law that dates back to 1986, called Proposition 65, which was enacted to protect California's drinking water supply from toxic, potentially cancer-causing chemicals. But the law also mandates that the state keep a master list of all chemicals known to be toxins, and requires manufacturers and businesses to warn people about these chemicals if they're present in products or buildings (even in extremely small doses).
There are more than 1,000 chemicals on California's cancer-warning list, which grows every year. Some chemicals on the list have been proven to cause cancer, but not all. A chemical only needs to have a 1 in 100,000 chance of upping your risk for cancer in order to merit a written warning to consumers.
However, because the way cancer develops in the body is extremely complex, one's cancer risk isn't just about what we put in our mouths, cars, and lungs. Cancer has a lot to do with the genes in our body and our family history, too.
For those and other reasons, many Californians and cancer experts lament that the warnings, as written, aren't all that helpful.
As the American Cancer Society says on its website, "the Prop 65 labels only tell you that a product has something in it that might cause cancer or affect reproduction. They don’t say what the substance is, where it is in the product, how you might be exposed to it, what the level of risk is, or how to reduce your exposure."
Here are a few of the strangest things that carry cancer warnings in California.
Parking your car in an indoor, enclosed parking deck
A concrete parking lot is not the best place for a casual, cancer-risk-free hang.
"Breathing the air in this parking garage can expose you to chemicals including carbon monoxide and gasoline or diesel engine exhaust," California says on its parking lot warning. "Do not stay in this area longer than necessary."
The state insists that phrase be printed on signs in indoor parking decks, or just about anywhere that people park inside.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer agrees with California on this one: diesel oil has more than 30 known components that can cause cancer, though in a well-ventilated parking deck, there shouldn't be too many fumes.
Drinking coffee
California now warns all residents that a cup of joe might cause cancer, but scientists aren't so sure.
Researchers who've studied coffee drinkers for years think that those people probably aren't at any higher risk of getting cancer. Instead, caffeine addicts may actively lower their risk of developing some kinds of cancers, including oral, prostate, and liver cancer.
But those findings didn't stop a California judge from recently ruling that coffee might be associated with a risk of cancer because it contains a tiny dose of a chemical called acrylamide. The compound can form when food is cooked at high temperatures, through processes like frying, baking and roasting. Acrylamide has been linked to cancer in mice and rats when it's put in their drinking water, but only in very high doses.
Acrylamide is in all kinds of cooked food we regularly eat, like french fries, potato chips, cookies, and cereal. There's no evidence yet that the amount of acrylamide in a cup of coffee has any detrimental health effects. In fact, you'd have to drink in thousands of times the amount of acrylamide in a cup of coffee to get to those levels. It's much more likely that acrylamide in cigarettes could be worrisome for people.
Still, places like Starbucks (pictured above) have started pinning up signs to comply with the new California regulation.
Being on your phone
Phones aren't chemicals, so they're not on the official Prop 65 list, but the California Department of Health still warns that the radio frequency energy they emit might cause cancer.
Scientific studies haven't demonstrated that cell phone radiation levels are anything to worry about.
Nevertheless, California residents are told not keep their phones in their pockets, and store them away from the bed at night. The health department also suggests consumers use wired headphones, wireless headsets, and speakerphone capabilities instead of holding their phone up to their ear, and opt to send more texts to avoid keeping phones close to their heads.
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