Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the letter to the editor written by Amadeo and Gayle Vitela published May 26.

They thank the Eureka for providing funds for the American Cancer Society’s annual Mesquite Relay for life and then chastise them for allowing smoking in their casino. Then let’s look at the statistics quoted, “tobacco contains more than 7,000 chemicals, among them at least 70 known to cause cancer.” I visited a website that quoted over 4,000 chemicals with at least 43 known to cause cancer. Which one is correct?

Then I looked up water quality. One website says there are over 2,000 chemicals in the water we drink.  One chemical, chlorine, used by most water treatment plants, is thought to lead to cancer, heart disease and other life threatening diseases. I then looked at air quality and found the air we breathe contains ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other particulate matter, some of which are classified as carcinogenics. Of course the main concentration is in larger cities such as Las Vegas.

Then another website states that there are over 3,000 chemicals added to most of the food we eat.

I finally realized how to avoid cancer and other illnesses. I need to quit smoking, quit drinking water, quit eating most foods and stop breathing the air. If I do this, I can guarantee I won’t die from cancer.

Michael Stilley

  • Mesquite, NV