Common Chemicals Could Raise Breast Cancer Risk
Nearly 300 chemicals found in everything from pesticides to food additives, cosmetics and even water could be increasing the risk of breast cancer in American women, a new study shows. After combing through US EPA testing data on more than 2,000 chemicals, scientists identified 296 that stimulated laboratory cells to produce estrogen or progesterone — hormones known to fuel breast tumors, they report in Environmental Health Perspectives. "The connection between estrogen and progesterone and breast cancer is well established. So we should be extremely cautious about chemicals in products that increase levels of these hormones in the body," said co-author Ruthann A. Rudel, research director at Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts. The chemicals — which could be virtually anywhere in homes, furniture, food, water, shampoos, hair dyes and pesticides — were more likely to be carcinogenic or developmental or reproductive toxicants than not, Rudel said. Rudel and her co-author, Silent Spring scientist Bethsaida Cardona, urged regulators and manufacturers to view their research as a wake-up call to test chemicals for safety. Additionally, she also called for stricter regulation of chemicals that could promote the growth of breast cancer.
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