Organochlorines in the environment and breast cancer

BMJ 1994;308:1520-1521 (11 June)

Editorials

Organochlorines in the environment and breast cancer

Women have been worried recently by press accounts of six comparativelysmall epidemiological studies suggesting that certain organochlorinesin the environment might increase the risk of breast cancer.*RF1-6* The studies were concerned with 1, 1-dichloro-2, 2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (DDE), the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT andalso with the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of compoundsused in industry - for example, as electrical insulators. Howstrong are the grounds for concern?

The results are summarised in the figure. The individual estimatesplotted are ratios of the mean concentrations of DDE or of polychlorinatedbiphenyls in fat or serum in women with breast cancer dividedby the mean concentrations in control women without breast cancer.Summary ratios were derived from the weighted averages of thelog ratios. For DDE the summary ratio was 1.11 (99% confidenceinterval 0.97 to 1.26). In other words, the women with breastcancer had . . . [Full text of this article]

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