Study Links Environmental Contaminants With Breast Cancer Researchers from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, have found an association between exposure to common environmental contaminants and breast cancer. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), produced by gasoline and oil combustion and also found in cigarette smoke and broiled meat, have been shown in experimental studies to cause cancer by damaging DNA. The researchers, led by Frederica P. Perera, professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Division of Environmental Health Sciences, have found that PAH-DNA damage in breast tissue was significantly associated with breast cancer and that women with breast cancer were 4 times more likely to have high levels of PAH-DNA damage in their tissue. The study is published in the July issue of Carcinogenesis. "Environmental exposures such as PAH are by their nature preventable," notes Dr. Perera. "These results need to be confirmed, but they suggest that reducing exposure to PAH can help prevent breast cancer." Andrew Rundle, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of clinical public health at the Mailman School, added, "Molecular epidemiology, using biomarkers like PAH-DNA, gives us a new, sensitive way to detect the effects of environmental carcinogens." Carcinogenesis. 2000;21:1281-1289 Reuters Health (thanks to Mid Huson Options Project,Inc. Breast Cancer Research, 9/02 Breast Cancer Research, 9/02 Nature Medicine, 7/03 Env Health Perspect, 7/03 Lack of Exposure Assessment Tools, Few Hypothesis-generating Studies Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 4/04 Environmental Health Perspectives, 6/04 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.