Subject: PANUPS: Breast Cancer linked to

From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Apr 93 14:38 PDT

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    PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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RESIDUES OF DDT METABOLITE LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF 
BREAST CANCER

April 22, 1993

	An article published in the Journal of the National Cancer 
Institute for the week of April 21, 1993 correlates breast cancer in 
women with increased levels of DDE in blood serum. (DDE is a 
metabolite of the organochlorine insecticide DDT.) Dr. Mary Wolff 
and associates, drawing from the population of 14,290 women 
monitored in the New York University Women's Health Study, 
selected 58 women who had developed breast cancer and 171 
matched controls without cancer. After adjusting for participants' 
childbearing and breastfeeding histories, and for family history of 
breast cancer, researchers found a fourfold increase in relative risk 
of breast cancer for women with elevated levels of DDE in the blood.
	Study participants were also tested for the presence of PCBs 
(poly-chlorinated biphenyls) in the blood serum.  Researchers found 
less than a twofold increase in relative risk for breast cancer 
associated with elevated levels of PCBs in the blood, and this 
association was further reduced when adjusted for the presence of 
DDE.
	This is the largest cohort to date that investigates possible 
relationships between breast cancer and organochlorine residues, 
and the only one to make significant statistical adjustments for 
other known risk factors.  Partly because of the larger size of the 
population monitored, than that of previous studies, it was possible 
for researchers to individually match cases and controls for at least 
some known risk factors.
	The authors point out that data implicating DDEUs association 
with breast cancer risk is important in light of the fact that DDE is 
a very common contaminant of animal-derived food products.  
Environmental contamination with DDT and other organochlorine 
compounds has been documented for at least three decades, and 
human exposure is still common throughout the world.  
Organochlorines are highly persistent in the environment, and are 
eliminated only slowly from the body, so long-term health effects, 
including cancer, are of particular concern.
 	Drs. David J. Hunter and Karl T. Kelsey of the Harvard School of 
Public Health note in an editorial in the same issue of the Journal of 
the National Cancer Institute that epidemiological information is 
limited on the health consequences of exposure to organochlorine 
compounds, and that even in cases of known or estimable exposure, 
little follow-up has been done to trace the incidence of breast 
cancer. Hunter and Kelsey comment that the findings in Wolff et al's 
study "may have extraordinary global implications for the prevention 
of breast cancer." 

SOURCES: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Vol 85 No 8; Press 
Section, National Cancer Institute.

CONTACT:  Office of Communications, Press Section, National Cancer 
Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, phone (301) 496-6641, fax (301) 
496-0846.

-Elaine Blankenship, Public Affairs Coordinator, Mt. Sinai School of 
Medicine, 10 E. 102nd. St.,  New York, NY 10029, phone (212) 241-
9200.
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The Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service 
(PANUPS) is a pesticide-related news service from the Pesticide 
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