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Pesticides are linked to
breast cancer
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
(Filed: 24/04/2003)
A new link has been found between breast cancer and pesticides. Women with breast cancer are at least five times more likely to have residues of the pesticide DDT in their blood than those who do not, according to Belgian doctors.
They looked for levels of two pesticides - organochlorines (DDT), which contain oestrogens, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) - in the blood of the two groups.
When DDT breaks down, it forms another chemical, DDE, which behaves like the female hormone oestrogen.
Dr Charles Charlier, a toxicologist at Sart Tilman Hospital, Liege, says in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine today that women diagnosed with breast cancer are more than five times more likely to have DDT residues and nine times more likely to have HCB residues in their blood than the control group.
DDT was banned in most developed countries following a lead by America in 1972 but research has shown that it can remain active in tissues for 50 years. HCB continues to be used.
Dr Charlier's work was based on 600 women in Belgium referred for suspected breast cancer. Of these, 159 had the cancer and agreed to have their blood analysed for the research.
He calls for more research into how humans might be exposed to organochlorines, particularly by eating foods that have been treated with pesticides.
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