Oct 28 2010
Testing chemicals before they cause breast cancer
From Megan Schwarzman, (PI), MD, MPH, Research Scientist at the UC, Berkeley School of Public Health
UC Berkeley and NRDC publish a report from the Breast Cancer and Chemicals Policy Project
Although breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer and death in women, even the small numbers of chemicals that undergo safety testing are not routinely evaluated for their impacts on mammary (breast) tissue. The Breast Cancer and Chemicals Policy Project was conceived to address this issue by developing a toxicity testing approach for screening and identifying chemicals linked to the disease. This project followed the recommendations of the NAS report, Toxicity Testing in the 21st century by promoting the use of rapid, cell-based tests to detect early (upstream) indicators of the disease.
An expert panel of 20 scientists and policy experts investigated the biological mechanisms associated with breast cancer and developed a testing strategy for screening and identifying chemicals that could increase the risk of the disease. Download the report here: http://coeh.berkeley.edu/greenchemistry/cbcrp.htm
A brief description of the project and its findings is attached here. Your comments and feedback on the report are welcome.
In addition, Sarah has posted a blog about the project here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sjanssen/breast_cancer_and_the_environm.html
Meg Schwarzman and Sarah Janssen
Co-Directors, Breast Cancer and Chemicals Policy Project
