07
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 7, 2007) In a study that examines the influence of age of exposure on the magnitude of the association between DDT and breast cancer risk finds that women who were exposed to DDT before the age of 14 are five times more likely to develop breast cancer later in life. In contrast, the study finds exposure after adolescence does not increase risk. The data used in the study targets the age of a woman in 1945 as an indicator for the youngest possible age for a woman to be exposed to DDT, since DDT was first introduced to the U.S. for mosquito control in 1945. The researchers, from the Center for Research on Women’s and Children’s Health, Public Health Institute at Berkeley, California and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, analyzed blood that had been collected from women between 1959 and 1967 – years during which the use of DDT was at its highest. “DDT and breast cancer in young women: New data on the significance of age at exposure,” published last week in the online edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, is “the first study specifically designed, a priori, to consider whether age at exposure […]
Posted in Breast Cancer, Children/Schools, DDT | 1 Comment »
15
May
(Beyond Pesticides, May 15, 2007) According to a study commissioned by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Silent Spring Institute, 216 chemicals, many found in urban air and everyday consumer products, cause breast cancer in animal tests. The study, “Environmental Factors in Breast Cancer,” the most comprehensive review to date of scientific research on environmental factors that may increase breast cancer risk, was published in the online version of the American Cancer Society’s journal Cancer on May 14, 2007. The state-of-the-science review collected and assessed existing scientific reports on potential links between specific environmental factors and breast cancer. The researchers synthesized national and international data sources and identified 216 chemicals that cause breast tumors in animals, including ten pesticides. They used the information to create a searchable online database featuring detailed information on the carcinogens. The database, accessible at www.komen.org/environment, is available free of charge. The database includes references to 900 studies, 460 of which are human breast cancer studies that were critically evaluated by the research team. The studies measure breast cancer risk related to body size, physical activity, environmental pollutants, and prospective studies of diet. For each study, bibliographic information, key methods and findings, and a […]
Posted in Breast Cancer | 4 Comments »
30
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 30, 2007) Breast cancer groups across the country have a new issue to add to the repertoire of risk factors: Pesticide use. A study published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found a strong link between residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk in women. Responding to the study, Susan Teitelbaum, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of community medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, says the options are simple”” “Stop using pesticides.” The study, published December 13, is the first to examine the relation between breast cancer and pesticides through self-reported residential pesticide use. Using women from New York, the study looks not at one or two incidents of pesticide contact, but at the impact of lifelong pesticide use in the home, lawn and garden. Using a sample of 1,508 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1996 and 1997, the study compares these women to 1,556 control subjects who were randomly selected. The results show that those women whose blood samples had higher levels of organochlorines are at an increased risk of breast cancer. Organochlorines are a broad class of chemicals, including DDT, dieldrin, and chlordane, and […]
Posted in Breast Cancer, Chemicals, Chlordane, DDT, Dieldrin, Lawns/Landscapes | 4 Comments »
