NIEHS: DDT Exposure Linked to Breast Cancer in Young Women

[OzarkDem]

Results of a new study from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences shows when examining effects of DDT exposure on women at an early age, it quintuples (yes that's 5X) their risk of developing breast cancer.

The reason I'm posting this is also because we are trying to pass the Breast Cancer & Environmental Research Act in Congress to fund this and more research for the SEVENTH YEAR IN A ROW.

It was bad enough when the GOP controlled Congress, but believe it or not, Dems have been even less helpful. Right now, the bill is being held up in committee by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-wingnut). Dems could override Coburn's procedural delays, but Sen. Ted Kennedy has decided he doesn't think this bill is worth it. Sen. Ted Kennedy thinks its not worth the trouble to spend time short-circuiting Coburn's delaying tactics. Instead, Sen. Ted Kennedy thinks its better to stop this research for now so Dems can use it to get re-elected in 2008.

SEVEN YEARS WAITING FOR THIS LEGISLATION AND NOW DEMS IN THE SENATE SAY "NO".

DDT and Breast Cancer in Young Women: New Data on the Significance of Age at Exposure
Barbara A. Cohn, Mary S. Wolff, Piera M. Cirillo, Robert I. Sholtz , July 24, 2007

Abstract
Background: Prior studies of DDT and breast cancer assessed exposure later in life when the breast may not have been vulnerable, after most DDT had been eliminated, and after DDT had been banned.

Objectives: Investigate whether DDT exposure in young women during peak DDT use predicts breast cancer.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, nested case-control study with a median time to diagnosis of 17 years using blood samples obtained from young women from 1959-1967. Subjects were members of the Child Health and Development Studies, Oakland, California, who provided blood samples 1 to 3 days after giving birth (mean age 26 years). Cases (n=129) developed breast cancer before age 50 years. Controls (n=129) were matched to cases on birth year. Serum was assayed for p,p'-DDT, the active ingredient of DDT, o,DDT a low concentration contaminant, and p,p'-DDE, the most abundant p,p'-DDT metabolite.

Results: High levels of serum p,p'-DDT predicted a statistically significant five-fold increased risk of breast cancer among women who were born after 1931. These women were under age 14 in 1945, when DDT came into widespread use and mostly under age 20 as DDT use peaked. Women who were not exposed to p,p'-DDT before age 14 showed no association between p,p'-DDT and breast cancer (p=0.02 for difference by age).

Conclusions: Exposure to p,p'-DDT early in life may increase breast cancer risk. Many U.S. women heavily exposed to DDT in childhood have not yet reached age 50. The public health significance of DDT exposure in early life may be large.


http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/10260/10260.pdf

[OzarkDem]

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