Cincinnati Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program

Annie Appleseed Project
The Annie Appleseed Project is a nonprofit, volunteer-led organization that provides information on complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) and natural therapies for people with cancer, their families and friends.  

National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute
The National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute is a clearinghouse of information about cancer that includes cancer statistics and information about clinical trials and current research.  

Breast Cancer Action
Breast Cancer Action is a “membership organization” that carries the voices of people affected by breast cancer. 

Breast Cancer Fund
The Breast Cancer Fund’s mission is to advocate for elimination of the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease. 

Breast Cancer Network
This site provides information and support for people newly diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Breastcancer.org
Breastcancer.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing reliable, complete and up-to-date information about breast cancer. 

Susan G. Komen for the Cure-Greater Cincinnati
Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. 

Genetics and Breast Cancer
This web page from the US National Library of Medicine explains the links between genetics and breast cancer. 

National Breast Cancer Coalition (and Fund)
This network works to create new partnerships, collaborations, research funding opportunities and avenues for quality care.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control’s website provides resources and information on a variety of health and environmental issues.  

Children’s Health Environmental Coalition
The coalition works to protect children from toxics in our everyday environments.

Environmental Health & Toxicology
The Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) maintains a website with access to resources produced by TEHIP and by other government agencies and organizations.   

Three of these resources include

• TOXNET, an integrated database system of hazardous chemicals, toxic releases and environmental health
• TOXMAP, which uses US maps to explore data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund programs
• Haz-Map, a database that contains information on the health effects of exposure to chemical and biological agents used in industry, on the job and at home
 

Household Exposures to Chemicals
As scientists search for clues about how environmental risk factors affect breast cancer, one of the expanding avenues of exploration is household exposures to chemicals.  

Safe Cosmetics
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics works to protect consumer and worker health by securing the corporate, regulatory and legislative reforms necessary to eliminate dangerous chemicals from cosmetics and personal care products. 

Environmental Health News
Environmental Health Sciences publishes health articles to help advance the public’s understanding of environmental health issues. 

Environmental Working Group
This team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers analyzes and publishes government data, legal documents, scientific studies and laboratory tests to expose threats to our health and the environment, and to find solutions.  

HealthNewsReview.org
This online journalism outlet is dedicated to improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests, products and procedures to help consumers evaluate the evidence for and against new ideas in healthcare. 

Medline Plus − Poisoning, Toxicology, Environmental Health
MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's website for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, it brings you information about diseases, conditions and wellness issues and offers reliable, up-to-date health information. 

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) website provides information on heath topics and research. The mission of the NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. 

US Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA website has resources about the history of environmental statutes and regulations, disasters and emergencies, and other environmental topics of historical interest.

Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals  (PDF).

Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals 2009 and the Updated Tables, February 2011
The Third National Report and this update serve as  the most comprehensive assessment of environmental chemical exposure in the US population.  

The Connection Between Cancer & the Environment – 6^th Edition
The Breast Cancer Fund's landmark report summarizes and evaluates the scientific evidence linking exposures to chemicals and radiation in our everyday environments to increased breast cancer risk.

12^th Report on Carcinogens (RoC)
The RoC is an informational scientific and public health document published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences / National Toxicology Program. It identifies and discusses agents, substances, mixtures or exposure circumstances that may pose a hazard to human health by virtue of their carcinogenicity. 

Program on Breast Cancer & Environmental Risk Factors
The Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell University is devoted to lowering the risk and incidence of cancer by promoting methods of sound decision-making at personal and public levels.

Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation works to eradicate breast cancer and improve the quality of women's health through innovative research, education and advocacy. 

Silent Spring Institute
Silent Spring Institute builds on a unique partnership of scientists, physicians, public health advocates and community activists to identify and break the links between the environment and women’s health, especially breast cancer.  

Zero Breast Cancer
Zero Breast Cancer is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding the causes of breast cancer through community participation in the research process.  

Cancer Prevention Coalition
The organization is a nationwide coalition of leading independent experts in cancer prevention and public health, citizen activists and representatives of organized labor, public interest, environmental and women's health groups. Its goal is to reduce cancer rates through a comprehensive strategy of outreach, public education, advocacy and public policy initiatives to establish prevention as the nation's foremost cancer policy.

Pesticides and Breast Cancer
According to the Breast Cancer Fund, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that exposures to toxic chemicals, including pesticides, in the environment are contributing to high breast cancer rates.  

Phytoestrogens and Breast Cancer
Phytoestrogens are estrogen-like chemicals found in plant foods such as beans, seeds, and grains. 

Heavy Metals and Breast Cancer (PDF).
Some evidence points to environmental contaminants such as metals as playing a role in disease: 

• Arsenic
  Envirofacts Master Chemical Integrator
  US Environmental Protection Agency
  
  Cadmium
  Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
  US Environmental Protection Agency
  
  Lead
  Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
  Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
  
  Lead in Paint, Dust & Soil
  US Environmental Protection Agency

Industrial Compounds, Endocrine Disrupters and Cancer
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals such as alkylphenols, industrial chemicals used in the production of detergents and other cleaning products that interfere with the endocrine (or hormone) system. These disruptions can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects and other developmental disorders.

Scorecard is a web-based resource for information about pollution problems and toxic chemicals and pesticides. The following links will take you directly to scorecards for some chemicals associated with cancer. 

Pollution

Alkylphenols

Arsenic

Organophosphate Pesticides

Organochlorine Pesticides