Environment and Breast Cancer: Science Review
Major use
We assigned each chemical into one of the following groups based on its major
sources and uses: industrial chemicals, chlorinated solvents, products of combustion,
pesticides, dyes, radiation and drinking water disinfection, pharmaceuticals, hormones, natural
products, and research chemicals.
Radiation
Found in consumer products
"Likely" indicates that the chemical is contained in consumer
products or traces of the chemical are present in products, including food and water, resulting
in likely exposure for the general population. For some chemicals marked as "likely," consumer
product uses have been discontinued, and this will be indicated in the "Use in Consumer
Products" field.
Not likely
Food additive in US
Chemicals are classified as "Listed" or "Not listed" in the Everything
Added to Food in the United States database developed by the US Food and Drug
Administration.(22)
Not listed
California Proposition 65
Chemicals are labeled "Listed" or "Not listed" based on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals updated on May 27, 2005. Listed chemicals are "chemicals known by the State of
California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity"(19).
Not listed
Air pollutant
Chemicals classified as "Likely" air pollutants are those likely to be found in
indoor or outdoor air, including products of combustion and industrial chemicals that may offgas
from consumer products, leading to human exposure.
Not likely
Current High Production Volume chemical
Chemicals are classified "Yes" or "No," based on
2002 production volume information submitted to the US EPA: "Yes" for >1 million pounds
produced; "No" for < 1 million pounds produced. Some past production volumes are
referenced, where appropriate, in the HPV comment column (20). In addition, Scorecard.org is
referenced and noted in the HPV comment column when it was inconsistent with current
production volume information obtained from US EPA (21).
No
Production volume information
Production volume information is from the US EPA database
on non-confidential production volume information submitted by companies for chemicals
under the 1986-2002 Inventory Update Rule (IUR) using the most updated (2002) values (20).
The Inventory Update Rule requires the submission of basic production data every four years
on chemical substances manufactured (including imported) for commercial purposes in
amounts of 25,000 pounds or more at a single site. Out of over 80,000 chemicals on the TSCA
Chemical Substances Inventory, reports are required for approximately 9,000 substances. For
those substances with annual volumes of 300,000 lbs or more per site, reporters also submit
chemical processing and use information.
--
General population exposure
This field includes information describing pathways of exposure
for the general population obtained from a variety of sources including: IARC Monographs (9),
NTP 11th ROC on Carcinogens (4), NTP Study Reports and Abstracts (3), Hazardous Substance
Database (10), and other sources located through use of the Google search engine.
Exposure to neutrons normally occurs from a mixed irradiation field in which neutrons are a minor component. The exceptions are exposure of patients to neutron radiotherapy beams and exposures of aircraft passengers and crew. In high-altitude cities, neutrons can constitute as much as 25% of cosmic background radiation. A measure of the societal burden is the annual neutron collective dose per year–1. Those values would be 4.6 x 105 person–Sv year–1 for the world population exposed at ground level, 350 person–Sv year–1 for nuclear workers and 7500 person–Sv year–1 for the passengers and crews of aircraft. The individual average lifetime effective dose of neutrons has been estimated to be 6 mSv for the world population exposed at ground level and 30 mSv for aircrews. The maximal lifetime doses of neutrons are estimated to be 68 mSv for the population of the high-altitude city of La Paz, Bolivia, 46 mSv for long-haul pilots and up to 130 mSv for the small proportion of nuclear workers exposed to neutrons (IARC 2000 vol.:75).
Use in consumer products
Summaries of chemical use in consumer products were developed
from information found in US EPA SRD (11), NLM HPD (12), and Scorecard (12). Major uses
were taken from IARC Monographs (9), NTP 11th ROC (4), NTP Study Reports (3), HSDB (10),
and PAN Pesticides Database (13). If a chemical could not be found in these sources, we
searched ToxNet (14), PubChem (15), and The Merck Index (16), and conducted searches by both
name and CAS No. using Google.
No consumer products listed in SRD, HPD, or Scorecard. Neutrons are uncharged particles that are penetrating and interact with atomic nuclei, generating densely ionizing charged particles, such as protons, a-particles and nuclear fragments, and sparsely ionizing g-radiation. The densely ionizing particles produce a spectrum of molecular damage that overlaps with that induced by sparsely ionizing radiation, but they are more effective in causing biological damage because they release more of their energy in clusters of ionizing events, giving rise to more severe local damage (IARC 2000 vol.:75). Neutron radiation is used less than other types of radiation in industry, medicine, and research. Neutron radiation has not been used widely for medical purposes because it has not shown clear therapeutic benefits, compared with conventional radiotherapy. However, there has been renewed interest in fast-neutron therapy for some cancers. Current medical uses of neutrons include external beam therapy, boron neutron capture therapy, and to make radioisotopes used in medical diagnosis and cancer therapy. Neutron sources are used in oil-well logging and to induce chain reactions in nuclear reactors. Other uses include neutron activation analysis and radiography (for determination of the elemental composition and moisture content of various materials), sterilization of materials, radiometric dating of rocks, and scientific and engineering research (11th ROC).
Occupational exposure to women
We extracted the total number of potentially exposed workers and the
number of potentially exposed female workers from the National Occupational Exposure
Survey (NOES) 1981-1983; we listed specific industry classifications if >5,000 women were
potentially exposed in that industry. Note: NOES does not include farm workers.
Not listed in NOES.
US EPA cancer classification
The US EPA Weight of Evidence Characterization of the
chemical’s carcinogenic potential is listed: Group A: Carcinogenic to humans; Group B:
Probably carcinogenic to humans. Group C: Possibly carcinogenic to humans. Group D: Not
classifiable as to human carcinogenicity. Group E: Evidence of non-carcinogenicity for
humans. NA: Not evaluated by US EPA (17).
NA
NIOSH Pocket Guide - potential carcinogen?
This field indicates whether NIOSH identifies the chemical as a potential
carcinogen for workers (yes/no) (24).
NA
Risk assessments not reviewed for this chemical