Chemical exposure before mid-30s triples breast cancer risk
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Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before age 36 could drastically increase risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a new study in Occupational and Environmental Medicine .
Those exposed to synthetic fibers and petroleum products at their workplace were at highest risk, the study suggests.
The findings were derived from analyses of data from 556 women aged 50 to 75 who were diagnosed with breast cancer and 613 age-matched women with other types of cancer as study controls.
All study participants lived in Montreal Canada in 1996 and 1997. The researchers investigated the women's levels of exposure to about 300 different chemicals and pollutants during the course of their employment history.
Occupational exposure to several chemicals were associated with increased risk of breast cancer, the research found. And those who were exposed to certain chemicals before the age of 36 were at particularly high risk.
Exposure to acrylic fibers led to a seven fold risk of breast cancer while those exposed to nylon fibers about doubled the risk.
Breast cancer is diagnosed in more than 175,000 women each year in the United States and the disease kills about 50,000 annually in the country, according to cancer.gov.
By Jimmy Downs
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