Essay Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer - 1320 Words

In the United States, starting from the first breast cancer case in 1930s to today, a womans lifetime risk of breast cancer increases to one eighth (Gray et al.). Continuously increasing breast cancer rate has caused a lot of concerns among not only ordinary people but also scientists. For decades, scientists have been working on the causes of breast cancer in order to find the corresponding methods of treatment. However, only about 25% of the breast cancer cases got explained (Brody et al.); till today, heredity, lifetime exposure to environmental estrogen (the female sex hormone), and the dietary fat are the only major known causes (â€Å"Cover Story: Breast Cancer and Environment†). For the 75% unexplained breast cancers cases,†¦show more content†¦However, as Gray et al. declared, Breast cancer in men also implicates estrogen as a contributing factor, although breast cancer is rare in men, those who develop the disease have been found to have higher than norma l levels of estrogen, which originates from secretions of the testes or adrenal glands. Existence of male breast cancer carriers indirectly proves the synthetic chemicals carcinogenic. Interrupted by environmental chemicals, male hormone-synthesis pathways function abnormally to produce a higher amount of estrogen, the female sex hormone, and long-term accumulation of estrogen in male breast leads to a significantly higher risk of breast cancer. As more and more researches got conducted based on the evidently carcinogenic synthetic chemicals, scientists have hypothetically proposed a list of carcinogenic chemicals. Human exposure to xenoestrogens, which imitate estrogen function in human bodies, would promote breast cancer cell development. According to Mitra et al., xenoestrogens are â€Å"chemicals in the form of polycarbonate plastics, food and cosmetic packaging, and even tin cans.† Presently banned DDT was once listed as a hypothetical carcinogen. As Dr. Mary Wolf says, â€Å" women with higher concentration of DDT in their blood have a greater chance of ge tting breast cancer — up to a fourfold great chance† (Greene and Ratner). 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