Research Results
Beta Version
Use the search bar below to find studies, or apply one or more filters to narrow your results. See our list of keywords to guide your search.
Search by keyword
Select
Select
- All Risk Factors
- Air Pollution
- Alcohol
- Antimicrobials
- Artificial sweeteners
- Bisphenols
- Body Weight
- Breast Density
- Chemical Mixtures
- Chemicals in products
- Cleaning Products
- Diet
- Exercise
- Family History
- Furniture & Electronics
- Genetics
- Gut Health
- Hair Dye
- Hormones
- Inflammation
- Job
- Light at night
- Metals
- Neighborhood
- Night Shift Work
- Noise
- Non-stick Pans & Waterproof Gear
- Oral Contraceptives
- PAHs
- Parabens
- PCBs
- Personal Care Products
- Pesticides
- PFAS
- Pharmaceuticals
- Place-based
- Plastic
- Pregnancy & Breastfeeding
- Processed Food
- Puberty Age
- Race/Ethnicity
- Radiation
- Red meat
- Scented Products & Soft Plastic
- Sleeping Patterns
- Soda
- Stress
- Sugar
- Sunscreen
- Tobacco
- Vitamin D
Select
Select
Select
Select
Select the Chemical Agents
- All Chemical Agents
- 1,1,2,2-TCA
- 1,3-Butadiene
- Acrolein
- Aldrin
- Alkylphenols
- Antimicrobials
- Antimicrobials: QACs, Triclosan, Triclocarban
- Aromatic Amines
- Arsenic
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Atrazine
- Benzene
- Bisphenols
- Cadmium
- Chlordane
- Chlorpyrifos
- DDT
- Dibutyl Phthalate
- Dichlorvos
- Dieldrin
- Dioxins
- ell/
- Ethanol (alcohol)
- Ethyl Benzene
- Ethylene Oxide
- Flame Retardants
- Food
- Formaldehyde
- Glyphosate
- Heptachlor
- Hormones
- Insulin
- Lead
- Light at Night
- Mercury
- Metals
- Methoxyclor
- Naphthalene
- Night Shift Work
- Nitrogen Dioxide
- Noise
- Oral Contraceptives
- Organochlorine Pesticides
- Organophosphate Pesticides
- Ozone
- PAHs
- Parabens
- Particulate Matter
- PCBs
- Pesticides
- PFAS
- Phenols
- Phthalates
- Processed Food
- PVC
- Radiation: Ionizing
- Radiation: Non-Ionizing
- Soda
- Stress
- Sugar
- Tobacco
- Toluene
- Trichloroethylene
- Triclosan
- Ultraviolet Radiation
- UV Filters
- Vinyl Chloride
Select the Study Tags
Sort By
- Relevance
- Title (A to Z)
- Title (Z to A)
- Publication Year (Ascending)
- Publication Year (Descending)
- Authors (A to Z)
- Authors (Z to A)
2020
Part Fibre Toxicol
This study investigated whether nanopolystyrene particles can cross the placental barrier and affect fetal tissues after being inhaled by the mother. The researchers exposed pregnant mice to nanopolystyrene particles with biomarkers (which they could use to detect their movement). After 24 hours, the nanopolystyrene was found in the mother’s organs such as the lungs, heart, and spleen, as well as the placenta and even in the fetus in organs including the liver, lungs, and brain. Furthermore, mothers exposed to the nanopolystyrene had lower fetal and placental sizes by 7 and 8% respectively. The researchers identified that the nanopolystyrene particles were transferred from the mother to the fetus through circulation of the particles to the placenta, and then from the placenta to the fetus. The study highlights critical concerns about ubiquitous plastic exposure and its potential impact on fetal development and the developmental origins of health and disease, particularly as microplastic and nanoplastic pollution becomes increasingly pervasive in indoor and outdoor environments.
2020
Sci Rep
A study comparing breast tissue from Black and White women with different breast cancer subtypes found distinct patterns of bacteria living in the tissue that varied by both race and cancer type. In Black women with triple-negative breast cancer (an aggressive subtype), tumors had lower bacterial diversity compared to surrounding normal tissue, while White women showed the opposite pattern with higher diversity in tumors. These findings suggest that the bacterial communities in breast tissue differ between racial groups and may play a role in the known disparities in breast cancer subtypes and outcomes, though more research is needed to understand how these bacteria influence cancer development.
2020
Environ Health Perspect
This article focuses on microplastics (MP’s), their effect on marine life and routes of human exposure. MP human exposure usually occurs through inhalation or ingestion which comes from contaminated fish and environment. MP’s are concerning because they spread either as pellets/by products or through degradation and fragmentation of plastic products. When this occurs, and reaches water and marine life, they then become contaminated with this plastic and degrade further, and leave forever chemicals as well. Due to the complex and persistent nature of these chemicals, they remain in organ systems of humans for long periods of time. It is important to remember that in small amounts they may not cause many effects but as these chemicals accumulate, it can cause risk to reproductive and hormonal issues.
2019
A prospective study of 4,523 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (1994-1998) and followed for a median 8.6 years (1,055 deaths, 824 from breast cancer) examined pre-diagnosis alcohol consumption patterns collected through interviews shortly after diagnosis. Women with the highest average weekly alcohol consumption (≥7 drinks/week) during the 5-year period ending 2 years before diagnosis had 26% lower breast cancer-specific mortality (HR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.57-0.95), and those with highest consumption in the 2 years immediately before diagnosis had 27% lower mortality (HR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.56-0.95), with wine consumption showing the strongest inverse association with mortality risk. These findings indicate that while alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for developing breast cancer, pre-diagnosis alcohol consumption—especially wine—was associated with reduced breast cancer mortality rather than increased risk of death, suggesting different biological mechanisms may operate for cancer development versus progression, though no associations were observed for non-breast cancer mortality.
2019
Sci Total Environ
A comprehensive review examines enzyme-mediated bioremediation—particularly using laccases and other oxidoreductases, hydrolases, and transferases—as a compelling strategy for degrading highly toxic and carcinogenic restricted use pesticides (RUPs) that accumulate in non-target organisms including humans, aquatic life, and microbes through modern agricultural practices and environmental pollution. While native enzymes often face limitations in industrial applications due to high cost and susceptibility, immobilization on support materials enhances stability, reusability, activity, specificity, and enables continuous system operation for more effective removal of these refractory compounds. The review covers pesticide sources, environmental occurrence, ecosystem and human health impacts, and specifically highlights laccase’s exceptional efficiency, specificity, eco-sustainability, and broad substrate range for pesticide degradation and detoxification, while proposing that deploying robust laccase-assisted biocatalytic systems will improve understanding of pesticide persistence and facilitate development of sustainable processes to remediate contaminated environmental matrices and reduce human exposure to these hazardous emerging contaminants.
2018
Environ Health Perspect
This study examined the relationship between 11 urinary phthalate metabolites and both breast cancer incidence and survival in 710 women with breast cancer and 598 controls from Long Island, New York, followed for a median of 17.6 years. Contrary to expectations, the researchers found that higher levels of several phthalate metabolites (including MCPP, MBzP, MCNP, and MCOP) were associated with reduced breast cancer risk, and higher levels of MEHP and MCOP were linked to better breast cancer survival. The study also revealed that body mass index modified the relationship between certain phthalate metabolites and breast cancer mortality, with positive associations in normal-weight women and inverse associations in overweight/obese women. However, the authors caution that these unexpected protective associations should be interpreted carefully since urine samples were collected after breast cancer diagnosis, which may have influenced the results.
2018
Reprod Toxicol
A developmental toxicology study exposed CD-1 mice to bisphenol S (BPS) at 2 or 200 μg/kg/day or ethinyl estradiol (EE2) at 0.01 or 1 μg/kg/day during pregnancy and lactation, then examined mammary glands of female offspring at three developmental stages (pre-puberty, puberty, and early adulthood) for growth parameters, histopathology, cell proliferation, and hormone receptor expression. The study revealed age- and dose-specific effects of BPS on mammary gland development that differed from both EE2 effects and previously reported bisphenol A (BPA) effects. These findings suggest that individual xenoestrogens—synthetic chemicals with hormonal activities—may have unique effects on mammary tissue development, supporting the hypothesis that endocrine-disrupting chemicals could contribute to breast diseases and dysfunction through disruption of normal mammary gland development, though each compound may act through distinct mechanisms.
2018
Environ Int
A study analyzing 65 seafood samples (195 analyses including raw and cooked preparations) from 11 European countries for pharmaceuticals (PhACs) and endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs)—chemicals linked to reproductive system effects, metabolic disorders, breast cancer pathogenesis, and antimicrobial resistance—found that while pharmaceuticals were mostly undetectable, EDCs were quantified in the majority of samples, with cooking by steaming significantly increasing their levels 2- to 46-fold. Human exposure assessment focused on three prevalent EDCs (bisphenol A, methylparaben, and triclosan) revealed that the Spanish population had the highest exposure through seafood consumption among the 11 countries studied, though exposures remained below current toxicological reference values. These findings highlight that commercially available seafood in the European Union market contains detectable levels of endocrine-disrupting contaminants that concentrate during cooking, raising concerns about cumulative dietary exposure to these compounds through this widely consumed protein source, particularly in populations with high seafood consumption patterns.
2015
Carcinogenesis
This paper examined how low doses of environmental chemical mixtures may contribute to cancer development by promoting tumor angiogenesis, and the formation of new blood vessels that supply nutrients to tumors. The authors identified chemicals that may interfere with these angiogenic pathways, such as those involving vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). Chemicals disrupting these pathways can lead to uncontrolled blood vessel formation in tumors. However, there is a need for further research to understand the combined effects of low-dose chemical exposures on angiogenesis and cancer risk.
2007
Cancer
A comprehensive review found that while laboratory studies have identified numerous environmental chemicals that cause breast tumors in animals or mimic estrogen, human epidemiological evidence is strongest for PAHs (found in air pollution and grilled foods) and PCBs (banned industrial chemicals), particularly in women with certain genetic variations affecting how their bodies process these chemicals and hormones. Evidence linking dioxins and organic solvents to breast cancer is limited but suggestive, while many chemicals identified as mammary carcinogens in animal studies have never been investigated in human populations due to challenges in measuring past exposures and the decades-long delay between exposure and cancer diagnosis. The review argues that given these methodological limitations in human studies, policymakers should rely more heavily on animal and laboratory evidence to develop regulations that reduce chemical exposures, as waiting for definitive human proof may unnecessarily delay prevention strategies that could reduce breast cancer rates.
2003
Environ Health Perspect
Children are particularly vulnerable to endocrine disruptors (EDs), chemicals that interfere with hormonal systems, potentially impacting development. EDCs can disrupt feedback loops in the brain, thyroid, and the endocrine system. Even more, there are plenty of documented effects in wildlife, experimental animals, and to a lesser extent, humans. Early life exposure to EDCs is linked to contributing to declining semen quality, increased reproductive organ malformations, rising testicular cancer rates, and earlier puberty in females. The National Children’s Study (NCS) plans to investigate these potential impacts by examining EDC exposure, genetic factors, and associated health outcomes over time, helping to clarify the long-term effects of EDs.