State of the evidence 2017: An update on the connection between breast cancer and the environment.
Posted over 6 years ago by Denise Souza
In this review, we examine the continually expanding and increasingly compelling data linking radiation and various chemicals in our environment to the current high incidence of breast cancer.
Since 2002, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP, formerly the Breast Cancer Fund) has published multiple editions of “State of the Evidence” linking toxic chemicals and radiation with breast cancer incidence and now has a comprehensive website translating and presenting this evidence for the general public at www.bcpp.org.
The peer-reviewed journal IJOEH published our comprehensive review of the relevant literature in 2009. In the 8 years since then, hundreds of new papers have been published supporting the connection between environmental exposures and breast cancer, and the evidence on this topic is more extensive and of better quality than that previously available. This evidence cited in this review reinforces the conclusion that exposures to a wide variety of toxicants – many of which are found in common, everyday products and byproducts – can lead to increased risk for development of breast cancer. It makes the case for everything we do at BCPP.
The review describes our methodology for the literature review, outlines critical concepts that frame the data and then divides the evidence into 7 major areas:
1. Hormones: Pharmaceutical agents & personal care products;
2. Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs);
3. Hormones in food: Natural and additives;
4. Non-EDC industrial chemicals;
5. Tobacco smoking: Active and passive;
6. Shift work, light-at-night and melatonin; and
7. Radiation.
As concluded by the reports of the Presidential Cancer Panel and the Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee, it is critical to recognize the growing literature demonstrating connections between exposures to environmental toxicants and later development of disease, including breast cancer, and to prioritize prevention both at the research and the public health levels.
I want to congratulate Janet Gray Ph.D., (co-chair of BCPP Science Advisory Panel and Board member, Professor Emerita Vassar College), who, working with BCPP colleagues, is the primary author of this open access paper and thank her for her tireless work on this project. I would also like to thank Vassar College for their support of Dr. Gray’s work with BCPP for over a decade.
With very best wishes
Sharima Rasanayagam PhD
Director of Science
415 321 2906
Please save the date October 10th 10am Pacific for a CHE webinar with Janet Gray, Julie Brody of Silent Spring Institute and Sarah Janssen of UCSF and Kaiser (all members of the BCPP Science Advisory Panel) discussing this new publication. RSVP AT:
https://www.healthandenvironment.org/partnership_calls/96215