Cancer
Cancer is the world’s second largest cause of death with rates rising since 1990, especially amongst 25 to 49 year olds where rates have risen faster for the last 20 years.
The impact of chemical exposures in everyday life is widely evidenced as a potential human health risk.
Chemicals that might disrupt the endocrine system are thought to play a role in the development of cancer cells.
Factors such as diet, exercise, lifestyle, and obesity are established risk factors for cancer, but the impact of exposures to everyday chemicals is becoming concerning. Rises in early onset cancer points toward the impacts of multiple exposures to chemicals in early life, even before birth.
Breast cancer
Breast cancer deaths have risen by over 80% since 1990. Exposure to a host of everyday chemicals that mimic the action of hormones could be a factor in the rising incidence rates.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals can mimic the actions of oestrogen in breast cancer cells, causing them to multiply more rapidly. For example, glyphosate (a widely used herbicide) is linked with adverse changes in breast cell tissue that might disrupt normal cell mechanisms, and lead to the development of ‘hormone sensitive’ breast cancer.
The effects of multiple exposures to chemicals such as phthalates or pesticides with endocrine disrupting properties could be the drivers of rising breast cancer risk, rather than single substance exposure.
Prostate cancer
This is the second highest cause of cancer death in men, rising by more than 100% since 1990.
The science is in the early stages, but it’s possible that endocrine disrupting chemicals might play a role in the development of prostate cancer, even when exposure is before birth.
Maternal exposure to endocrine disruptors that mimic the actions of androgen hormones might have a cumulative effect later in life. For example, testosterone which regulates sexual and other development prostate development, can be affected by exposure to bisphenols and phthalates.
Sources
We can test your recent exposure to chemicals with possible links to higher cancer risk