Breast Cancer & the Environment

Efforts to reduce the effects of breast cancer have concentrated on improving detection and treatment. Great progress has been made; these are to be applauded and must continue.

We are calling for

greater priority to be given in Government policy to 'primary prevention' to reduce the incidence, not just the effects, of the disease.
a separate infrastructure to be created, with a multi-disciplinary approach involving all stakeholders, to begin work on a national strategy for primary prevention of breast cancer.
a new independent working group to push this agenda forward.

This could be done by adopting a precautionary approach and reducing the presence of possible contributory factors in the environment. WEN believes this will not only stem or reverse the rate at which breast cancer is spreading, but will have knock on benefits for other cancers and the environment as a whole. In the long term, health service budgets could benefit: if fewer people contract breast cancer, demand for treatment will fall and resources could be freed up for use on other health care. We are calling for a separate infrastructure because it should not divert resources away from detection and treatment of the disease.

These demands came out of a forum, organised by WEN in November 2000 at the House of Commons, that brought together cancer specialists, patients, and others concerned about breast cancer.

Environmental links to breast cancer

This is just a summary of some of the evidence.

- The increasing presence of oestrogen-mimicking chemicals in the environment through synthetic chemicals in pesticides, plastics, environmental pollution, household products and cosmetics. Breast cancer is linked to lifetime exposure to oestrogen; the more oestrogen we are exposed to in our lifetime, the greater our risk of developing breast cancer.

- Many of the 70,000 synthetic chemicals in regular commercial use are persistent and accumulate in body fat, including the breast. Some 400 have been detected in human body tissues and secretions, including breast milk. Of the fraction that have been tested, several thousand are listed as known or suspected carcinogens, and several hundred as damaging to the developing foetus. A chemical may not, by itself, instigate cancer but it may work with other factors to contribute towards the risk of developing the disease.

- Evidence exists in the United States and Norway of links between male breast cancer clusters and electromagnetic fields.

- Synthetic compounds which have shown hormone-like activity in laboratory tests include organochlorine pesticides, furans and dioxins from incinerators, surfactants used in pesticides, paints, cleaning products and in paper and textile production, synthetic resins and plasticisers used in food packaging.