Human Body
Chemicals and the links to Breast Cancer: Prevention Methods It's difficult to examine the effects of individual chemicals on risk for a disease as complex as breast cancer. The time between exposures and development of the disease may be decades. We may not know what chemicals we've been exposed to, and we are not exposed to chemicals in isolation. With more scientific evidence emerging daily, it's clear the chemicals in our environment play a role in altering our biological processes. It's clear that our exposures to toxic chemicals and radiation are connected to our breast cancer risk. Life = air and water. Deplorably, both air and water can contain chemicals that are harmful to us. When it comes to the air we breathe, it's not just our lungs that are in danger. Air pollutants, chemicals associated with increases in mammary gland tumors in animals all are major factors to this pandemic. We are exposed to many of these chemicals in the air we breathe outside, as well as in our offices, homes, restaurants and schools. It's also very important to pay attention that most of the air pollutants are from just a few sources: primary and secondhand tobacco smoke, diesel exhaust and specific occupational exposures. Chemicals related to breast cancer also make their way into lakes, streams and groundwater systems. As mentioned within this research paper, the particular concerns are pesticides from agricultural and home use, dioxins and synthetic hormones that make their way down household drains. On a positive note, our exposure to chemicals and radiation is something we can begin to control—through personal, corporate and political action. Here are some of the chemicals that have been linked to breast cancer and actions that can be taken to reduce the risk of contracting this disease.
Hydraulic Fracturing-commonly known as