(According to Reuters Health)- A new study shows that nearly 300 chemicals found in everything from pesticides to spices, cosmetics and even in water may increase breast cancer risk in American women.

According to a report in the journal Environment Health Protection: After reviewing test data from the US Environmental Protection Agency on more than 2,000 chemicals, scientists identified 296 chemicals. can stimulate cells to produce estrogen or progesterone – two hormones linked to breast cancer risk.

“The link between estrogen, progesterone and breast cancer is so clear that we should be cautious about chemicals in products,” said Ruthann A. Rudel, director of research at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts. can increase the levels of these hormones in the body.

In a phone interview, Rudel told Reuters Health, “The chemicals can be everywhere in the home, furniture, food, water, shampoo, hair dye and pesticides, and there are many possibilities. Carcinogenic.” And she said, “I think the industry should take a closer look at the use of chemicals and hopefully they will study these chemicals very carefully, right now they can change the formula accordingly.” .

Rudel and fellow Silent Spring scientist Bethsaida Cardona urged regulators and manufacturers to see their study as a wake-up call to test the safety of chemicals.

In addition, Rudel hopes that breast cancer researchers will conduct human and animal studies with the chemicals Rudel has identified as linked to breast cancer. She also called for strict regulations on the use of these chemicals.

Kathryn Guyton (National Academy of Sciences) and Mary Schubauer-Berigan (International Organization for Research on Cancer) also say: “More efforts are needed to identify breast carcinogens because breast cancer is common. of all cancers in the world and the leading cause of cancer death in women globally.”

Of the chemicals Rudel and Cardona identified that increase estrogen and progesterone, 33 are known to cause cancer, and 32 are unlikely to cause breast cancer.

“It’s like if you can’t see it, you won’t find it,” said Linda Birnbaum, a scientist and former director at the National Institutes of Environmental Health and the National Toxicology Program. She was not involved in the new study. However, she says, “We need to look at these chemicals more.”

Meanwhile, many American consumers believe that the government will not allow products to be sold in stores if they contain harmful chemicals, but Rudel says that is not true and many products contain chemicals. Toxic is being sold.

“I hope through this article, the EPA pesticide office and other regulatory agencies including the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” said Birnbaum, now a scholar at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. We will look into this issue more closely.”

References

https://bit.ly/3xd9fAv and https://bit.ly/3f9ex9U Environmental Health Perspectives

Source link:https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/955787

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Translated by: Phuong Thao