Breast Cancer is more and more common.
In the United States, breast cancer is the most diagnosed invasive cancer. The average lifetime risk for a woman to develop breast cancer is 12.8% (more than double that of lung cancer, the second most common)
Like other chronic diseases, genes, behaviors and the environment all contribute to a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.
People always say the same things about breast cancer. What’s new?
In 2012, researchers reported on the link between workplace chemical exposures and increased breast cancer risk. The key finding of the six-year study was that young women working in the automotive plastics and food packing industry are five times more likely to have breast cancer than their neighbors working in other industries.
Researchers found that women who worked for 10 years in the automotive, agricultural, plastics, canning, and the casino, bar and racetrack sectors had elevated breast cancer risk. The highest risk factors – nearly 5 times higher than in the control – were for premenopausal women working in the automotive plastics and food-canning sectors.
In response, ChemHAT added a special focus on breast cancer as an occupational disease. A special icon for chemicals linked to breast cancer was added to ChemHAT's chemical hazard information based on the work of the Silent Spring Institute, and new educational and organizing tools on Putting Breast Cancer Out of Work were created.
Then in January 2024, Silent Spring scientists expanded on their earlier work and published a report in Environmental Health Perspectives. The new study identified a total of 921 chemicals that could promote the development of breast cancer. Ninety percent of the chemicals are ones that people are commonly exposed to in consumer products, food and drink, pesticides, medications, and workplaces.
The new Silent Springs research is reviving the Putting Breast Cancer Out of Work campaign.
Putting Breast Cancer Out of Work Training Materials
- United Steelworkers Fact Sheets (August 2024)
- United Auto Workers Fact Sheets (April 2024)
- United Auto Workers Presentation (April 2024)
A Bouquet of Rosies: Members of the Women's Council of UAW Region 2B after their Putting Breast Cancer Out of Work training session.