Elaine Thompson/APResearch technician Ashwini Balakrishnan works in the immunotherapy research lab of Dr. Stanley Riddell at the
Cancer is the number two cause of death in the US, second only to heart disease.
It fundamentally affects the way our cells grow and divide, changing them in perverse ways. All cancer is a result of DNA damage or genetic mutations in our DNA. The nasty, debiltating class of diseases spreads through a body like an invading army, as toxic cells grow relentlessly into unruly tumors.
Some cases of cancer are out of our control, determined by genetic defects and predispositions passed down from one generation to the next, or spurred by genetic changes we undergo through our lifetime.
But we also know that breathing in certain substances, eating specific things, and even using certain kinds of plastics ups the risk of developing some deadly cancers.
Here are some known carcinogens (cancer-causers), as well as a few more things scientists are zeroing in on as