Women in Auto Plastics Factories at Higher Risk for Breast Cancer

December 26, 2012 - The results, published in the journal Environmental Health, are striking: Women employed in the automotive plastics industry were almost five times as likely to develop breast cancer, prior to menopause, as women in the control group.

The six-year study, conducted by a team of researchers from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, examined the occupational histories of 1,006 women from Ontario’s Essex and Kent counties who had breast cancer and 1,146 who did not. Adjustments were made for smoking, weight, alcohol use and other lifestyle and reproductive factors, NBC News reported.   

Workers employed in the automotive plastics industry may handle an array of carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. They include the hardening agent bisphenol A (BPA) plus solvents, heavy metals and flame-retardants.

The study population included women who had worked at more than 40 plastics factories in the Windsor, Ontario area. But the implications are broader: Workers in similar plants around the world are exposed to many of the same chemicals.

A new study appears to strengthen the link between breast cancer and exposure to toxic, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, particularly those used to make automotive plastics, NBC News reported.

Click here to read more.

Carnow Conibear and Associates is a demonstrated leader in the occupational and environmental health professions since 1975. To find out more, click here or call us at (800) 860-4486.