Breast Cancer and the Environment

Cancer of any kind, but especially breast cancer, has become a devastating fact of life for a large percentage of American families. But even with new treatments, death rates are still high and there is growing debate on what researchers should be looking for in terms of causes of the disease. Many activist groups are now pointing to the environment and the toxins that exist in it as a probable leading cause for breast cancers.

"Breast cancer is a malignancy in one or both breasts. Most patients are women, but 1 percent of patients are men. This is the most common cancer among women after cancer of the skin and accounts for one out of three cancer diagnoses in the United States. If not treated early, breast cancer can spread to nearby lymph glands, lungs, bone and other parts of the body. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer." (1).

These are some of the facts about the disease, and they are certainly grave. But the most frightening aspect of breast cancer is that no one is at all sure of the cause or causes of the disease. Risk factors at this point include family history of the disease, presence of the breast cancer gene (BRCA1 or BRCA2) that scientists have recently discovered in ones DNA, obesity, heavy alcohol use, and a person is certainly more at risk if they have already had one form on cancer in their body. (1).

Scientists consider environmental risk factors to include one's personal health habits (i.e. smoking, bad eating habits, not enough exercise) as well as different forms of radiation, pollutants, pesticides and toxic chemicals in the environment surrounding us. Scientists think that environmental agents like these are the cause of about three quarters of the cancer cases.

This of course, is dependant on the concentration of toxins in one's surrounding environment. This means that someone who works with certain chemicals, metals or other possible carcinogens, will have a higher risk of developing some form of cancer than someone who is not exposed on a regular basis. (2). Many studies have been done in areas where there have been an unusually high amount of cancer - and particularly breast cancer - occurrences. One such study was conducted in an affluent suburb of Boston, called Newton, where there were a high number of breast cancer cases in a concentrated area. The study sought to find some of the environmental causes for such a high rate of breast cancer in the town, and interestingly enough, many of the causes were directly related to the socio-economic status of the people in the Newton. The study, published by the Silent Spring Institute, Inc., a non-profit organization that studies links between the environment and breast cancer, found that certain aspects of the lifestyles of the wealthier women in the area could be contributing to their higher rate of breast cancer. The study found that a high percentage of the women in Newton used professional lawn care services and hired exterminators, and used dry cleaning service, among other things. Each of these practices imports toxic chemicals onto personal property and into the home. The study mentions, though, that there is also a high rate of mammography in the area, and that simple fact of earlier detection results in more cases of breast cancer in the report for that area when comparing it to other communities. (3).