A scientific review article published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health shows that a host of chemicals that mimic or alter the activities of natural hormones can potentially increase breast cancer risk. A companion article outlines research and policy priorities needed to better understand and regulate these endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which are found in everything from pesticides to plastics to personal care products.
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Do the people who grow and harvest America's food -- and the many others exposed to harmful substances used in agriculture -- face a special risk of cancer?

Overall cancer incidence and mortality rates are low among farmers relative to the general population, but studies of farming populations routinely reveal elevated risk for several specific types of cancer. Some farm workers face disproportionate exposure levels to various chemicals. While a variety of substances either created by or used in agriculture may increase cancer risk, including solvents, fuels, nitrates in fertilizers, and engine exhaust, the bulk of research to date  has focused on pesticides. Farmers and farm workers are not the only ones exposed to these substances.

Nearly a hundred CHE Partners and friends joined us on Tuesday, Dec 9 for a call featuring Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, who testified at the recent President's Cancer Panel hearing on agriculture and cancer. An MP3 recording of this fascinating call is available for download on the main call page, linked below.

Main Call Page

CHE Consensus Statement on Cancer and the Environment

Download the Statement [PDF]

Sign the Statement

View List of Signers

Fact Sheets
Written by Molly Jacobs, MPH and Richard Clapp, DSc, MPH of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, in partnership with CHE and the Breast Cancer Fund

Agricultural Exposures and Cancer [PDF]

Industrial and Manufacturing Exposures and Cancer [PDF]

Air and Water Pollutants and Cancer [PDF] 

More Cancer and the Environment Resources

What would a science-based cancer prevention agenda look like?

As the President's Cancer Panel begins its series of four hearings on different aspects of cancer and the environment, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, in collaboration with organizational Partners, including the Breast Cancer Fund and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, is working to provide a forum for scientific and public health experts, other clinical, public health, and safety professionals, union members, activists, students and concerned individuals to identify key action steps to ensure the official report of the Panel to the next President addresses the strong evidence base linking industrial agents with cancer and the need for more prevention-oriented research, programs and policies associated with these risk factors.

On Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 many CHE Partners and friends joined us for a call about the President's Cancer Panel, the new CHE Cancer Consensus Statement, and the future of cancer prevention in the United States and around the world.

Download the MP3 recording of this call

Learn more about the President's Cancer Panel

The Prenatal Origins of Cancer Spreadsheet presents the results of a comprehensive search of the scientific literature for evidence that postnatal cancers may be determined prior to birth. The spreadsheet contains over 750 published articles examining a wide range of exposures from smoking and air pollution, to industrial chemicals, to maternal factors such as illness and medication.  Studies were categorized according to the exposure and the system affected (e.g., blood, brain, breast) and summary tables and charts were created to help describe the data. 

Prenatal Origins of Cancer: Summary [PDF]

Spreadsheet [PDF] 

System Analysis [PDF]

Exposure Patterns Analysis [PDF]

Paternal Exposure Patterns Analysis [PDF] 

Charts [PDF]

References [PDF]

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Lowell & Boston University recently concluded in an updated scientific review, Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007, that mounting evidence linking unintentional exposures to toxins in our workplaces and general environment contribute to the nearly one and a half million new cases of cancer in the U.S. in just 2007 alone.

Stay tuned for upcoming CHE Cancer Calls.

This page includes useful references, articles, reports, etc, but does not include the CHE Peer Reviewed Analyses (with scientific references) on brain, breast, ovarian, prostate, or testicular cancers that you can find in the top right-hand corner of this page.

View call notes, recordings and resources specific to CHE Cancer Calls here.

A report initiated by CHE's Cancer Working Group, documenting associations between environmental and occupational exposures and certain cancers in the United States,  created by Richard W. Clapp, D.Sc., Genevieve K. Howe, MPH, and Molly M. Jacobs, MPH, at the Boston University School of Public Health and Environmental Health Initiative, University of Massachusetts Lowell.

A compilation of scientific data about links between fetal exposure to pollutants and the risk of developing cancer later in life, gathered by Mary Bachran and Theo Colborn, Ph.D. at The Endocrine Disruption Exchange Inc. (TEDX Inc.).