Medical researchers are now saying that cleanliness and perfect
vegetables
may be
responsible for cancer, by allowing immune systems to atrophy: (via
Leviathan)
Researchers are now raising the possibility of deliberately exposing
new-born children to a cocktail of microbes to give their immune systems
the cancer-fighting abilities once acquired from grubby housing conditions.
Studies of broad-leaf vegetables like lettuce have shown that when attacked by
plant viruses, they fight back using compounds called salicylates. Related to
aspirin, these compounds are thought to be natural anti-cancer agents.
Vegetables grown under strictly controlled conditions - as they are for
supermarkets - are however protected from the infections that trigger the
release of these compounds.