While cancer death statistics can vary from place to place it is generally estimated that roughly 7.2 to 7.5 million people worldwide die from cancer each year. In the United States alone where cancer death statistics are highly monitored each year has seen a steady death rate of 550,000 to 600,000 people year after year, or roughly 1,500 people per day. This puts cancer as the second leading cause of death in the US just behind heart disease, with it looking to take the number one slot in 2010 given current growth statistics.

With a growth rate of over one million new cases each year these numbers look only to continue growing as our bodies process the toxins around us and reach in different ways to our environments. The primary concern for this growth rate lies in the number of carcinogens – or cancer causing agents – that are highly present in developed countries and rapidly introduced to developing countries worldwide. Australia, for instance, is generally fairly well known for its clean and regulated environment, yet it still projects a yearly growth rate of 3,000 new cases regularly to contribute to its already 120,000 cancer sufferers.

The most common carcinogen present in most western societies is actually simply the air around us while staying indoors. Enclosed spaces with little to no air circulation contain significantly higher concentrations of gases and chemicals that are normally expelled and washed away, leading many office or home office workers to be at exceptionally high risks should they not have an open window or some way to circulate the air. This is further complicated by the use of aerosols, particularly in small bathroom spaces, that can easily enter our blood stream through inhalation and affect cell reproduction and repair.

Another common carcinogen lies in the heavy use of garden pesticides, with many leukemia cases developing in families that tend to use pesticides frequently. In fact, reports indicate that nearly 75% of all pesticide related cases are for children aged 14 years and younger. More so even still the common cosmetic can be a killer, and the price of beauty by regularly applying lipstick, foundation and other chemical based products to your skin could lead to an early death if not done in moderation – still, none of these are found as warning labels on cosmetic products. Some countries such as China attempt to strive against this by actually requiring all cosmetic products to be tested on animals and have thorough reports filed before they can even be considered close to market ready, yet this is not the case everywhere.

Finally, on a similar note a number of cancer cases leading to death are also caused by chemical application to the body such as through the use of hair dyes. Many researchers believe that nearly 20% of all reported non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cases are actually a result of frequent hair dying, complicated even more by the fact that many hair styling products are aerosol based, so think twice before visiting a salon and putting yourself at risk.