Suddenly, it seems almost everything can cause cancer.

The latest media reports say overseas researchers have found Colgate toothpaste contains ingredients that may potentially cause the killer disease.

Previously, the public has been warned against the excessive intake of fried food and instant coffee, which, health experts say, can acquire a cancer-causing substance during production.

The State quality control authorities have also launched a national campaign to ferret out food containing the infamous Sudan I, a chemical dye suspected of causing cancer. A total of 88 food products have been blacklisted.

Although we should not rush to conclude that our living environment is becoming more hazardous, statistics do back up such an impression.

Going by the numbers, Chinese are facing an ever harsher situation. Compared with 10 years ago, the death rate from malignant tumors has increased by 22 percent.

Four authoritative domestic organizations said last week that in China one out of every five people who die from a disease is killed by cancer.

What is more worrying is the growth of the fatal scourge. Those organizations warn that if proper measures are not taken, China's death tolls from cancer will double in the coming two decades.

Cancer treatment costs billions of dollars every year in this country. Besides enormous economic losses, patients and their families suffer from extreme physical and psychological pain.

The heavy economic and social costs require that we find out the causes of the disease and better prevent it from occurring.

Scientists have pointed to a multiplicity of causes, such as ageing, the spread of Western-style diets, smoking, the changing environment, chronic psychological stress and eating contaminated food.

They have combined to provide an environment for the wild reproduction of cancer cells.

Sadly enough, there is no cure for the disease. Drugs and chemotherapy can often postpone death, but in most cases they fail to dispel the ghost.

Experts suggest the public should live healthier lifestyles and make sure they get early diagnosis to nip the disease in the bud.

These valuable tips are helpful. Prevention costs less and proves more effective in controlling death from cancer.

In many cases, however, we just feel feeble in preventing the disease given the seeming omni-presence of harmful and potentially cancer-causing substances in food.

Experts have repeatedly warned that some chemicals and heavy metals in food are possible sources of cancer. But media reports from time to time reveal excessive amounts of chemicals and heavy metals in the food we consume every day.

Beijing consumers were once scared by harmful Chinese chives as some farmers use water mixed with a high concentration of dangerous pesticide to irrigate the plant.

Now Sudan I has been found on dinner tables across the country.

We can shake off bad living habits. We can spend more time going to hospitals more frequently. But we cannot refuse to eat.

Because of this dilemma, we consumers are at our wits' end as to what to eat and what not to eat.

Fortunately, relevant government agencies have not sat idle. They have publicized a list of dangerous products.

Still, the public demands more timely efforts from market monitors. In the case of Sudan I, for example, the government acted only after their British counterpart recalled all products containing the hazardous coloring agent.

A 1996 food safety regulation in China forbids the use of the substance. But Chinese regulators have failed to fully carry out their duty.

Of course, clean food does not mean people will not get cancer. But it can at least play a significant role in reducing the number of its victims.

(China Daily April 19, 2005)