What Is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?

Breast Cancer Action
State of the Evidence - What Is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer rates have been climbing steadily in the United States and other industrialized countries since the 1940s, amounting to more than one million cases per year worldwide.

In the United States, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer has nearly tripled during the past four decades. In 2005, an estimated 211,240 U.S. women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and more than 58,000 women were expected to be diagnosed with one type of in situ breast cancer, meaning the tumor is confined to its original location in the breast.

The rate of new cases per year continues to inch upward in the United States even though billions of dollars have been spent on breast cancer research. Compelling scientific evidence points to some of the 100,000 synthetic chemicals in use today as contributing to the development of breast cancer, either by altering hormone function or gene expression.

Synthetic agents that mimic the actions of estrogens are known as xenoestrogens and are one type of endocrine-(hormone-) disrupting compound. They are present in many pesticides, fuels, plastics, detergents and prescription drugs. Chronic exposure to widespread and persistent xenoestrogens may help explain the increase in breast cancer in industrialized countries around the world.

Xenoestrogens known to increase the risk of breast cancer include ingredients in many household products, especially cleaning agents, solvents and pesticides.

www.bcaction.org/PDF/StateofEvidence.pdf