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2024
Environ Res
A decade-long study of 135 breast cancer cases and 540 controls found that exposure to PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) was strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk, with mixed PFAS exposure showing more than double the odds of developing the disease. Several specific PFAS compounds—including PFBA, PFOS, PFHxS, and PFDA—were identified as particularly significant risk factors, with some associations appearing exclusively in premenopausal women. The findings suggest that premenopausal women should be especially cautious about PFAS exposure, as these persistent “forever chemicals” may pose a substantial breast cancer risk.
2024
Environ Health
This large French cohort study analysed long-term residential exposure trajectories of PCB153 and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) among more than 10,000 women and estimated associations with breast cancer risk. Women in the highest trajectory class for PCB153 had an OR of ~1.69 (95% CI: 1.08–2.64) compared to the lowest class; associations for BaP were weaker and not consistently statistically significant. The research highlights how evolving environmental exposures over decades may influence hormone-sensitive cancer risk.
2020
Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol
This case-control study of serum-levels of persistent organic pollutants among Greenlandic Inuit included 74 breast cancer cases and 80 matched controls. Researchers measured blood methylation of repetitive elements (LINE-1) and genes such as ATM and ESR2, alongside serum persistent organic pollutant (POP) levels. They found that women in the second tertile of ATM methylation had OR ≈ 2.33 (95% CI: 1.04–5.23) and those in the third tertile of ESR2 methylation had OR = 2.22 (95% CI: 0.97–5.05); women in the highest tertile of LINE-1 methylation had OR = 0.42 (95% CI: 0.18–0.98). These results suggest that altered DNA methylation associated with environmental pollutant burdens may play a role in breast cancer etiology in this population.
2020
Environ Res
A 24-year study of over 112,000 U.S. nurses found that women living within 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) of municipal solid waste incinerators had a 15% increased breast cancer risk compared to those not living near these facilities, with risk rising to 25% for women within 5 kilometers (3 miles). The association strengthened with longer duration of residence near incinerators and higher dioxin emission levels, and was consistent across hormone receptor subtypes and menopausal status. These findings provide evidence that residential exposure to dioxins—toxic chemicals released from waste incineration that persist in the environment and accumulate in the food chain—may increase breast cancer risk, highlighting the need for stricter emissions controls on incinerators and consideration of proximity to such facilities in community planning and cancer prevention strategies.
2024
Environ Toxicol Pharmacol
A comprehensive review examines endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) classified as carcinogens—compounds recognized for decades as top priority toxicants and persistent organic pollutants due to their ability to disrupt endocrine signaling—analyzing their hazard identification, human exposure routes, carcinogenic potency, and mechanisms of action across different organs. The review discusses major endocrine-disrupting carcinogens and their cancer-causing potential while identifying critical research gaps, methodological bottlenecks, and limitations in analytical detection techniques. This analysis underscores the serious public health concern posed by EDCs with carcinogenic properties, highlighting the need for improved understanding of their mechanisms, better analytical methods for detection and measurement, and addressing research limitations to protect human health from these ubiquitous environmental contaminants that can both disrupt hormonal systems and initiate cancer development.
2023
Foods
A review of regulations for endocrine-disrupting chemicals and persistent organic pollutants in infant formula found that while breast milk remains the healthiest option, infant formula must be strictly monitored to ensure it is pollutant-free, particularly given the vulnerability of newborns to chemical exposures. Current regulations and upper limits for contaminants in infant formula vary worldwide, though standardized policies exist to protect infants, and continuous monitoring is required to maintain safety standards. The authors emphasize that risk assessment studies are limited but urgently needed to better understand exposure variations and evaluate the health risks infants face from dietary exposure to pollutants during this critical developmental period.
2022
Environ Int
A large prospective study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort examined 318,607 women from nine European countries over a median 14.9 years of follow-up, identifying 13,241 incident invasive breast cancer cases, to assess whether dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs)—persistent organic pollutants with endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic properties—was associated with breast cancer risk. Dietary exposures to dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs), non-dioxin-like PCBs (NDL-PCBs), and combined dioxins + DL-PCBs showed no associations with breast cancer incidence (all HRs approximately 1.00-1.01 per 1 SD increase), with results remaining consistent when analyzed by quintile groups, by country, by estrogen receptor status, or after adjusting for contributing food groups and nutritional factors. These findings from one of the largest prospective studies on this topic do not support an association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs—the main exposure route for these chemicals in the general population—and breast cancer risk. Despite the established endocrine-disrupting properties of these pollutants and some previous suggestions of positive associations, this comprehensive European study provides reassuring evidence that typical dietary exposures to dioxins and PCBs are not linked to increased breast cancer incidence.
2021
PLOS One
A case-control study in Ethiopia examined 50 breast cancer patients and 50 controls to investigate whether exposure to organochlorine pesticides is a risk factor for breast cancer in a low- and middle-income country context. Ten organochlorine pesticides were detected in participants’ serum, with heptachlor found at highest concentrations; mean serum levels of p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDT, heptachlor, gamma-chlordane, endosulfan, and dibutyl-chlorendate were significantly higher in breast cancer patients than controls, and p,p’-DDT and gamma-chlordane emerged as significant predictors of breast cancer, with each unit increase in p,p’-DDT concentration doubling breast cancer odds (AOR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.04-3.97) and each unit increase in gamma-chlordane tripling the odds (AOR = 3.12; 95% CI: 1.19-8.20). These findings suggest that organochlorine pesticide exposure may be a significant breast cancer risk factor in Ethiopia, where environmental contamination from these persistent organic pollutants remains a concern despite global restrictions. The study highlights the public health importance of reducing exposure to these banned or restricted pesticides in developing countries and emphasizes the need for continuous biomonitoring of persistent organic pollutants to inform disease prevention strategies and mitigation measures, particularly as breast cancer incidence rises in low- and middle-income countries where environmental regulation may be less stringent.