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Breast Cancer Suspects

Pesticides, pollution, bio chemicals and non organic compounds have been found in our food supplies.

Gasoline, Benzene, Fuels and Solvents

Occupational studies have mainly focused on men, but a few studies on women workers have turned up elevated levels of breast cancer among those exposed to various petrochemical solvents—particularly women working in chemical factories and dry cleaning shops, hairdressers, nurses in health and science laboratories, and electronics industry workers. Benzene, to which we are exposed in gasoline at the pump and in lawn mowers and other appliances that might be stored in garages and basements, is a potent mammary carcinogen, according to Silent Spring researchers.

Breast cancer is the most common invasive malignancy among women in the U.S. and the leading cause of death in women from their late 30s to their early 50s.[1] Identifying breast carcinogens could lead to risk reduction.
 
Carcinogen,  Ionizing Radiation
Exposure to high levels of carcinogen (substances or forms of energy that are known to cause cancer—for instance, asbetos or ionizing radiation) We’re exposed to x-radiation from medical x-rays, mammograms and other radiopharmaceutical treatments. Though these technologies offer great benefits, unnecessary exposure should be avoided. Our greatest exposure to radiation is from the gamma rays in natural sunlight, which also provides us with beneficial Vitamin D. We get increased radiation from plane travel, as a result of greater proximity to the sun’s rays and because the radiation is less filtered by clouds and particulates. If you live or work close to nuclear power plants or lived in the era of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons (1945-1980) you will also have accumulated higher doses of this radiation. According to the National Toxicology Program, those radioactive doses are on the wane. American pathologist, defined tumours as “semiautonomous growths of tissue” This definition has stood the test of time because it emphasizes two major features of cancer: abnormal cell growth and the fact that abnormal growth occurs because of a malfunction in the mechanisms that control cell growth and differentiation. The malfunctioning of the cell’s control mechanisms is described in detail in another section of this article, Causes of cancer. The current section focuses on stages in the growth of tumours and on the effects of tumours on the individual.
Drinking Alcohol
Most everyone agrees that limiting alcohol consumption can reduce the risk of breast cancer, but the connections get stronger with each new study. Natural cancer-causing substances—primarily urethanes—are  found in alcohol, including wine and ale beers. In a recent analysis of six studies that examined 322,647 women, each additional 10 g of alcohol consumed equated to an added 9 percent risk of breast cancer.
 
Industrial Combustion Sources
Just as components of car exhaust have been linked to breast cancer and a long list of other illnesses, air pollution from refineries and coal plants also compounds the load. Researchers studying air pollution in Erie and Niagara counties in New York State found a higher risk of breast cancer among post-menopausal women whose birth addresses were near locations recording higher levels of PAHs. The researchers, who used historic air pollution data dating back to the 1960s to measure these trends, thus suggest that exposure in early life to high levels of PAHs may increase one’s risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.
Urethanes
Hormone Supplements
Estrogens
1 a : a crystalline compound C3H7NO2 that is the ethyl ester of carbamic acid and is used especially as a solvent and medicinally as an antineoplastic agent  b : an ester of carbamic acid other than the ethyl ester
any of a class of synthetic resinous, fibrous, or elastomeric compounds belonging to the family of organic polymers made by the reaction of diisocyanates (organic compounds containing two functional groups of structure −NCO) with other difunctional compounds such as glycols. The best known polyurethanes are flexible foams—used as upholstery material, mattresses, and the like—and rigid foams—used for such lightweight structural elements as cores for airplane wings. Foamed polyurethanes result from the reaction of diisocyanates with organic compounds, usually polyesters, containing carboxyl groups; these reactions liberate bubbles of carbon dioxide that remain dispersed throughout the product. Use of polyethers or polyesters containing hydroxyl groups in preparing polyurethanes results in the formation of elastomeric fibres or rubbers that have outstanding resistance to attack by ozone but are vulnerable to the action of acids or alkalies.
 
Toxicant in Food
Food can be tainted by pesticides sprayed on crops, antibiotics used on poultry and other meats, and hormones injected into cattle, sheep and hogs. Some foods may increase the risk of breast cancer by increasing circulating levels of estrogen, so Silent Spring researchers advocate additional research in this area. They point to the fact that milk sold in the United States (banned in Canada and Europe) containing insulin-like growth factor 1 may put women at increased risk. Also, grilled or charred meat and fish contain various mutagenic agents that occur naturally in the grilling process.
 
Acrylamides—found in French fries, breads and cereals cooked at very high temperatures—pose problems, as do foods contaminated by styrene from polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers. Fish can also be contaminated with a variety of long-banned chemicals like PCBs, which have been linked to breast cancer, as well as by dioxin, a product of incineration
 
 
Estrogens
any of various natural steroids (as estradiol ) that are formed from androgen precursors, that are secreted chiefly by the ovaries, placenta, adipose tissue, and testes, and that stimulate the development of female secondary sex characteristics and promote the growth and maintenance of the female reproductive system;  also   : any of various synthetic or semisynthetic steroids (as ethinyl estradiol ) that mimic the physiological  effect of natural estrogens.

Drinking Water Contaminants
Drinking Water Contaminants cause mammary tumors in rodents. There’s strong evidence for their causing cancer in humans as well. Likewise, many drinking water systems. have been found to be contaminated by pesticides and dry cleaning chemicals.

Miscellaneous Chemicals, Dyes, Whitening Agents. Human exposure to environmental chemicals, revealing some 116 toxic and cancer-causing chemicals in the blood and tissues of human volunteers chosen to represent our population. Among the compounds they found were multiple pesticides linked to breast cancer, dioxins that are products of incineration, and other chemicals.

 Can our “body burdens” be lightened? Silent Spring researchers advocate reducing as many “preventable” exposures from industrial chemical byproducts as possible. Examples abound: 1,4 dioxane, a contaminant in detergents and shampoos, for example, and fluorescent whitening agents, both have been found to cause breast cancer in animals. The researchers argue that most chemicals used in hair dyes and cosmetics have not been tested for their health effects.
 
Pharmaceuticals.
mammary gland • toxicology • carcinogenesis • animal models • breast cancer • risk assessment • chemical exposure • environmental pollutants • occupation • dyes • pesticides • solvents • hormones • pharmaceuticals. 
Identifying chemical carcinogens in animal studies is currently the primary means of anticipating cancer effects in humans. Animal studies to evaluate potential chemical carcinogenicity are particularly important for breast cancer because environmental and occupational epidemiologic research is sparse. Chemicals that increased mammary gland tumors in animal studies were compiled from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP), and other sources. Summary assessments of the carcinogenic potential for each chemical and potentially exposed populations were also compiled. In all, 216 chemicals were identified that have been associated with increases in mammary gland tumors in at least 1 study. These include industrial chemicals, chlorinated solvents, products of combustion, pesticides, dyes, radiation, drinking water disinfection byproducts, pharmaceuticals and hormones, natural products, and research chemicals. Twenty-nine are produced in the U.S. at >1 million pounds/year; 35 are air pollutants, 25 have involved occupational exposures to >5000 women, and 73 have been present in consumer products or as contaminants of food. Thus, exposure is widespread. Nearly all of the chemicals were mutagenic and most caused tumors in multiple organs and species; these characteristics are generally believed to indicate likely carcinogenicity in humans