New research links plasticizers to breast cancer
Overexposure to plasticizers could almost double the risk of contracting breast cancer, according to findings by local researchers.
The findings of the research — jointly conducted by the Academia Sinica, National Health Research Institute and National Taiwan University Hospital — were released yesterday, marking the world’s first paper establishing the relationship between plasticizers and breast cancer.
Presenting the results at a press conference, Chen Chien-jen, vice president of Academia Sinica, said exposure to plasticizers and other environmental hormones have been a factor behind the rising numbers of breast cancer patients in Taiwan.
The study started in 1991 with researchers monitoring almost 12,000 women from seven communities around Taiwan.
After years of follow-up study, the researchers eventually tracked down 128 of these women who have developed breast cancer. Their urine samples were then analyzed and compared to a control group of 251 others.
Overexposure to plasticizers could increase breast cancer risks by 1.9 times. When a person’s metabolism of plasticizers is weak, the risk of getting breast cancer will increase by 1.7 times.
If a person with weak metabolism of plasticizers and is overly exposed to the chemicals, the risk of contracting breast cancer is 3.4 times higher than ordinary people.
The chemicals were at the center of a food scare in Taiwan in 2011 when it was found that a plasticizer, DEHP, was widely and illegally used to replace palm oil in food and drinks as a clouding agent.
Chen said people’s metabolism of plasticizers is usually normal, but if these chemicals are illegally used as food additives, a person who drinks a bottle of sport drink could be exposed to seven times the amount of plasticizers allowed.
He said Taiwan’s breast cancer incidence rates for people under 50 years of age are comparable to other countries in Europe and America.
Source: The China Post
Published: 20 July 2014
Category: Features, Health alert
