Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer

[Guest guest]

Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer

 

From the " Women, Health, & the Environment " conference (Albuquerque,

New Mexico, October 14-15)

http://www.preventcancer.com/avoidable/breast_cancer/env_causes.htm

 

Sponsored by

 

Greenpeace

Women's Environmental and Development Organization (WEDO)

Cancer Prevention Coalition.

Dr.Samuel Epstein summarized evidence on causes of breast cancer:

 

Since the 1950's scientific evidence has incriminated chlorinated

organic pesticides as breast cancer risk factors because of their

carcinogenicity, estrogenic effects, and accumulation in body fat,

particularly the breast.

 

 

The unregulated use of growth promoting hormonal cattle feed

additives has resulted in near universal contamination of meat

products. This results in life-long exposure to carcinogenic

estrogens, and poses a major avoidable risk of breast cancer.

 

 

Where you work increases your breast cancer risks. Excess breast

cancers were found in the 1970's in women working with vinyl

chloride. There is similar evidence among petrochemical and

electrical workers. In spite of more women working in such

industries, NCI recently admitted that it has still not investigated

these risks among working women.

 

 

Where you live increases risks of breast cancer. Based on a review

of 21 New Jersey counties, and more recently 339 nationwide

counties, statistically significant associations were found between

excess breast cancer mortality and residence in counties where

hazardous waste sites are located.

 

 

Living near a nuclear facility increases your chances of dying from

breast cancer. Based on a nationwide survey of 268 counties within

50 miles of 51 military and civilian nuclear reactors, CPC member

Dr. Jay Gould, showed that breast cancer mortality in these " nuclear

counties " has increased at 10 times the national rate from 1950 to

1989. Counties near military reactors, such as Hanford, Oak Ridge

and Savannah River, have registered the greatest increases, ranging

from 27 to 200%. Dr. Gould charged NCI with " misrepresentation of

such findings. "

 

 

Premenopausal mammography increases your risk of breast cancer.

Increases in breast cancer mortality have been consistently reported

following repeated mammograms in younger women in six randomized

controlled clinical trials over the last decade. Based on this

evidence, NCI has recently withdrawn recommendations for pre-

menopausal mammography. ACS, with financial support from Dupont and

General Electric (both heavily invested in mammography equipment),

and self-interested radiologists are still promoting this dangerous

practice.

 

 

Participation in the 1972 NCI/ACS reckless, high dose mammography

experiments has increased breast cancer risks for the 400,000 women

involved.

 

 

Breast implants, particularly polyurethane foam, pose serious risks

of breast cancer. Evidence on the carcinogenicity of polyurethane

foam dates back to the early 1960's. One breakdown product of

polyurethane is 2,4-toluenediamine which was removed from hair dyes

in 1971 following discovery of its carcinogenicity. Frank admission

of these risks are found in internal NCI, FDA and industry

documents.

 

 

The Tamoxifen " chemoprevention " trial is a travesty! Since 1992, the

cancer establishment recruited 16,000 healthy women in a

Tamoxifen " chemoprevention " trial. NCI and ACS claimed in their

patient consent forms that Tamoxifen could substantially reduce

breast cancer risks, while trivializing risks of drug complications.

There is strong evidence of Tamoxifen's toxicity, including high

risks of uterine, gastrointestinal and fatal liver cancer. " This

trial is scientifically and ethically reckless, and participating

institutions and clinicians are at serious risk of future

malpractice claims, " warned Dr. Epstein.

" A decade-old multi-million dollar deal between National Breast

Cancer Awareness Month sponsors and Imperial Chemical Industries

(ICI) has produced reckless misinformation on breast cancer, " stated

Dr. Samuel Epstein, a leading international authority on cancer-

causing effects of environmental pollutants.

 

Zeneca Pharmaceutical, a U.S. subsidiary and recent spin-off of ICI,

has been the sole funder of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

since 1984. ICI is one of the largest manufacturers of petrochemical

and chlorinated organic products, such as acetochlor and vinyl

chloride, and the sole manufacturer of Tamoxifen, the world's top-

selling cancer drug used for breast cancer. Financial sponsorship by

Zeneca/ICI gives them editorial control over every leaflet, poster,

publication, and commercial produced by NBCAM. NBCAM is promoted by

the cancer establishment, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and

the American Cancer Society (ACS) with their corporate sponsors.

 

Imperial Chemical Industries has supported the cancer

establishment's blame-the-victim attitude toward the causes of

breast and other cancers. This theory attributes escalating cancer

rates to heredity and faulty lifestyle, rather than avoidable

exposures to industrial carcinogens contaminating air, water, food,

consumer products, and the workplace.

 

" The ICI/NBCAM public relations campaign has prevented women from

knowing of avoidable causes of breast cancer, " concluded Dr. Epstein.

 

Chicago, October 14, 1996-- released by the Cancer Prevention

Coalition

 

CONTACT:

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.

Cancer Prevention Coalition

c/o University of Illinois at Chicago

School of Public Health, M/C 922

2121 W. Taylor Street

Chicago, IL 60612

 

epstein