Air-freshening chemicals may lead to cancerous cells
Common household chemicals such as those used for moth repellents and air fresheners may be harmful because they can change normal cells into ones that could become cancerous, a study has found.
The chemicals, naphthalene and para-dichlorobenzene, are used in mothballs and air fresheners such as those found in urinals. More than 1 million pounds of the chemicals are used annually, said the study in Nature Chemical Biology posted online today.
After treating microscopic worms with the chemicals, scientists at the University of Colorado and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston discovered that enzymes necessary for the cycle of cellular life and death had been blocked, the study said.
The suppression of the enzymes that are essential for regulating normal cell death may be a way these chemicals help spur cancer growth by preventing that normal process, which can also act as a check on tumor cells, the study said.
“Understanding the mechanisms by which chemicals may help trigger tumor growth is very important for adopting the appropriate regulations to limit human exposure to hazardous chemicals,” wrote Ding Xue, an associate professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department at CU, in an e-mail Thursday.
The chemicals have long been thought of as carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents, though no apparent genetic damage was found in previous tests.
An outgrowth of the study was that researchers devised a way to potentially use the microscopic worm to screen drugs or cancer-causing agents, a much cheaper method than using rats, Xue wrote.
HEWITT, Texas
Storms bring floods, dramatic rescue
Heavy rain, hail and high winds moved through parts of Texas on Sunday, forcing a dramatic rescue of two boys caught in a flooded drainage ditch.
The teens had stopped to help the driver of a car swept off the road and into a ditch by flash flooding when they were dragged under by strong currents.
One was sucked into a 70-foot- long drainage pipe and spat out on the other side of the road, said Fire Chief Glen Arthur in Hewitt, a small town just south of Waco. Firefighters pried the other teen out after he became trapped under the car.
The National Weather Service said radar indicated 3 1/2 to 4 inches of rain fell in the Hewitt area.
Storms also pounded Houston, dropping up to 1 inch in 15 minutes, said weather service meteorologist Kent Prochazka.
SWANTON, Ohio
Kids slain by dad shot 3 times each
The grandfather of two young children shot to death by their father said Sunday that the family was struggling to cope with the violent loss.
“Those two kids were A-No. 1,” said Jim Staczek, whose daughter was stabbed during Saturday’s attack. “They were smart as a whip, both very good children.”
Autopsy reports said the children – Lauren, 10, and Jacob, 5 – were shot three times each before their father, Clarence Saunders, 58, fired a bullet into his head during a standoff with police.
The children’s mother, Patricia Saunders, who told authorities she was stabbed by her husband before the standoff, was recovering at a hospital, her father said.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand
Final three bodies found in sunken boat
Divers today found the bodies of three people missing since a fishing trawler sank in seas off New Zealand’s South Island, bringing the total killed to six.
The bodies of Leslie Topi, 78, and his 9-year-old grandsons, Sailor and Shain, were recovered from the sunken 50-foot trawler Kotuku, Sgt. Brock Davis said. Three of the nine on board survived after the boat rolled or capsized in heavy seas Saturday.
