In the United States, starting from the first breast cancer case in 1930s to today, a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer increases to one eighth (Gray et al.). Continuously increasing breast cancer rate has caused a lot of concerns among not only ordinary people but also scientists. For decades, scientists have been working on the causes of breast cancer in order to find the corresponding methods of treatment. However, only about 25% of the breast cancer cases got explained (Brody et al.); till today, heredity, lifetime exposure to environmental estrogen (the female sex hormone), and the dietary fat are the only major known causes (“Cover Story: Breast Cancer and Environment”). For the 75% unexplained breast cancers cases, scientists, through various of researches, have come up with several hypothetical breast cancer causes, in which synthetic chemicals and environmental radiations are the major ones.
A lot of evidence have linked breast cancer to the environmental chemicals. Since WWII, a great deal of endocrine disrupters (synthetic chemicals) have entered the environment, accumulated through the food chain, and finally accessed into human bodies (Brody et al.) . According to Gray et al., environmental chemicals are carcinogenic because they often interrupt hormone-regulated pathways, especially that of the estrogen, and thus cause negative genetic variations. Experiments carried out by Gray et al. indicate that breast tissue synthesize estrogen from local hormone (androgenic hormones) using aromatase, whose activity rate is abnormally higher in breast cancer tissue than that of normal breast tissue. Theoretically, “estrogen promotes the growth cancer cells in vivo” (Mitra et al); the fact that women are more likely to ...
... middle of paper ...
...al Causes of Breast Cancer.” Public Health Reports 111. (1996): 494(14). eLibrary. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
“Cover Story: Breast Cancer and Environment.” Contemporary Women's Issues Database. 01 May. 1994: 33+. eLibrary. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Gray, Janet., Evans, Nacy., Taylor, Brynn., Rizzo, Jeanne RN., Walker, Marisa..“State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment.” International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. 1(2009):43. eLibrary. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Greene, Gayle, and Ratner, Vicki. "A Toxic Link to Breast Cancer? The Chemicals around Us." The Nation 20 June 1994: 866+. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Mitra, Amal K., Faruque, Fazlay S., Avis, Amanda L.. "Breast Cancer and Environmental Risks: Where Is the Link?." Journal of Environmental Health 7(2004):24. eLibrary. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
I think the chapter that helps to support her main point the most is chapter four titled “Space.” In this chapter, she discussed a great deal about the geographic distribution of cancer as well as the environment of the people who are more likely to get cancer. This includes: job type, living location, and living surroundings. To expand on each, she states that workers with
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
Two essays read by the class, “Fables for Tomorrow” and “The Clan of One-Breasted Women”, target the idea that chemical compounds have an impact on nature. They make it a priority to get their points across that limiting pesticides and chemical compounds will help make America, and other places around the world a better place. They provide very educational messages in getting their points across about the dangerous roles the pesticides play in the world today. Humans and the government cause this through authorization of plenty of the events going on in the environment. Both of the authors, who are female activists for the environment, focus on chemical compounds causing diseases and harm to the environment.
Breast cancer is the second leading cancer to cause death in women. A combination of factors contributes to the etiology of breast cancer, such as genetic and environmental dynamics [ACS, 2014]. One particular area of interest is the study of metalloestrogens, which are inorganic compounds that can bind to the estrogen receptor and mimic the biological functions of estrogen in breast cancer cells. Arsenic is one such metalloestrogen and has been classified as carcinogenic to humans [IARC]. Studies in humans have shown that long-term exposure to arsenic is associated with bladder, kidney, lung and liver cancers [1,2,3]. Arsenic exposure has also been correlated with an increase in the incidence of breast cancer [4]. People can be exposed to arsenic in different settings such as in the workplace, in drinking water or from medical treatments. Through these methods of exposure, various mechanisms of internalization can take place through inhalation, ingestion, or through skin contact. We hypothesize that prolonged arsenic exposure results in the expression of genes that promote breast cancer progression. In this study, we propose to investigate the effect of prolonged arsenic exposure on gene expression, by comparing the global gene expression of a breast cancer cell line that has been chronically exposed to low-dose arsenic with that of a control cell line. Genes found to be differentially expressed in arsenic adapted cells will be examined further. We also aim to extend our understanding of the direct effect of arsenic, by studying the signal pathway that results in gene expression when arsenic binds to the estrogen receptor.
In 1896 the scientist Beatson reported that the removal of the ovaries resulted in the reduction of breast cancer tumours (Russo and Irma 1998). Breast cancer is a malignant, metastasizing cancer of the mammary gland. It is the leading cause of death in woman between the ages of 35 - 45. Breast cancer can also occur in males, although less frequent, around 400 men die each year from breast cancer in the united states. (Martini, F., 2004). Studies on rats have shown considerable evidence that rat oestrogens are mammary carcinogens. Oestrogens have shown to stimulate the hormone prolactin. Through studies involving the use of antioestrogens, for example, tamoxifen, "Tamoxifen alone or in combination with the retina all trans-N-(4 hydroxyphenyl)-retinamide (4-HPR) reduces the incidence of NMU-induced mammary tumours in Sprague-Dawley rats." (Jane M. Ussher Ph.D. 1996). This suggests that Oestrogens and Prolactin's can have the effect of the development of breast cancer since the pathogenesis of spontaneous breast cancer in humans is similar to that of chemical-induced rodent mammary cancer. (Jane M. Ussher
Chemical pollution into the environment can cause both genotypic and phenotypic changes in many organisms, including humans. More specifically, environmental pollutants like BPA can act as xenoestrogens (estrogen imitators), ultimately affecting hormonal activity and production in an organism. This alteration in activity and production can be termed as endocrine disruption. The endocrine system regulates a variety of processes responsible for growth and development, including gonadal formation and function, digestion, metabolism, sex differentiation, and embryonic development (reviewed by Flint et al., 2012). Chemicals that interfere with the function or structure of the endocrine system can be defined as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
...ars to be the most promising agent in primary prevention of breast cancer. It changed the way prevention is perceived by biomedicalizing it. Prevention is seen as equivalent to risk reduction. Also, it is the only United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) approved drug for reducing breast cancer risk in high-risk women. Promising as it may seem, the scope of primary prevention has been restricted to women at high risk of developing breast cancer because of inherent limitations of these strategies. Knowledge is power, “The lack of knowledge in the realm of breast cancer prevention makes for greater investment in chemoprevention”. Owing to failure of etiologic studies in breast cancer research to identify primary prevention strategies suitable for the general population, reducing mortality through early detection of breast cancer still remains the mainstay.
About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, more than any other type of cancer (www.breastcancer.org, 2015). Many people lack the knowledge of how breast cancer is developed. Some people think they will not get cancer because they do not smoke cigarettes, but this is not the only cause of cancer developing in the breast. Anyone can get cancer. Everyone is potentially at risk for developing some form of Cancer (American Cancer Society, 2015).
Society, A. C. (2014, april 8). Gene Mutations That Can Lead to Cancer. Retrieved from Society, American Cancer.
N.P., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. <http://www.sus.edu/PageDisplay.asp?p1=3575>. Ratcliff, Mrs.. Personal interview.
Yang, M. (2011). A current global view of environmental and occupational cancers. Journal Of Environmental Science And Health. Part C, Environmental Carcinogenesis & Ecotoxicology Reviews, 29(3), 223-249. doi:10.1080/10590501.2011.601848
While women in this region continue to be diagnosed with breast cancer at an alarming rate, it is only normal for residence to want answers. Many years of research have found a couple of possibilities for this tragic problem. According to researchers at Silent Springs Institute in Newton Massachusetts, a possible reason behind the high cancer rates is the use of pesticides in marshes, cranberry bogs, golf courses and residential areas. Researchers are also looking into the possibility that synthetic chemicals found in common household products are to blame. Cheryl Osimo, Silent Springs Cape Cod coordinator, called the study's discoveries an important step.
During recent years, numerous newspaper and magazine articles have suggested that humans may be at risk because small amounts of well known environmental contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, can affect hormone levels. Hormones are produced by the endocrine system as regulators of biological function in target organs. Because hormones play a critical role in early development, toxicological effects on the endocrine system often have an impact on the reproductive system. The term endocrine disruptor is used to describe chemicals that can mimic hormones and may either enhance or counteract their effects. It has been suggested that these hormone changes can, in turn, lead to a variety of health problems including cancer, decreased fertility, and abnormalities in newborns.
In India, 144,937 women were newly detected with breast cancer and 70,218 women died of breast cancer in 2012. For every 2 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, one lady is dying of it. Incidence of breast cancer has also increased from 25.9% in the year of 2008 to 27% in 2012.In the year 2012, there were about 2, 32,000 breast cancer cases reported in the US, whereas in India, 1,45,000 new cases were diagnosed. This implies that, though, because of India's population, the percentage of total women affected seems less, the breast cancer burden in India has almost reached about 2/3rds of that of the US and is steadily rising. For the years 2015, there will be an estimated 1, 55,000 new cases of breast cancer and about 76000 women in India are expected to die of the disease.
Patterson, R. E., Flatt, S. W., Newman, V. A., Natarajan, L., Rock, C. L., Thomson, C. A., et al. (2011). Marine Fatty Acid Intake Is Associated with Breast Cancer Prognosis. The journal of nutrition , 141 (2), 201-206.