Breast Cancer-Synthetics Connection Further Revealed

Earlier this month, the Breast Cancer Fund, which works to “identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer,” released a report entitled “State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment.”

Its message is right in line with a lecture I attended last year at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and with what the President’s Cancer Panel reported in May. Here’s the lead paragraph from the Fund’s press release announcing the study:

"A report released today by the Breast Cancer Fund presents a comprehensive summary of the scientific data on the environmental causes of breast cancer. The report catalogues the growing evidence linking breast cancer to, among other factors, synthetic hormones in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and meat; pesticides in food; solvents in household cleaning products; BPA in food containers; flame retardants in furniture; and radiation from medical treatments."

Sure, there are unavoidable genetic issues involved in cancer, but more and more evidence is linking the unfathomable spike in cancer rates since World War II to the toxins mentioned above.

"The report states that a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is 1 in 8—representing a dramatic increase since the 1930s, when the first reliable cancer incidence data were established. Between 1973 and 1998 alone, breast cancer incidence rates in the United States increased by more than 40 percent. Strikingly, the increasing incidence of breast cancer since the 1930s parallels the proliferation of synthetic chemicals. Today, approximately 85,000 synthetic chemicals are registered for use in the United States, more than 90 percent of which have never been tested for their effects on human health."

I’ll discuss the study in more detail in upcoming posts, but click here to read the report.