We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ask the leading breast cancer charities why they don’t acknowledge environmental and occupational exposures as risk factors for breast cancer.”
Details of Petition:
“Breast cancer cases have reached record levels and the disease is increasing across all age-ranges. In the UK a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is 1 in 9. There is mounting evidence linking lifelong, low-level exposure to a toxic cocktail of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors in our homes, workplaces, and environment to breast cancer. The EU recently recognised the environmental causes of breast cancer which must be taken into account when considering any public health approach to this disease. But the UK cancer charities continue to refute environmental and occupational exposures as a risk factor for breast cancer. The historic approach of focusing on lifestyles factors alone, accounts for only 30-50% of breast cancer cases, leaving 50-70% of cases with no known cause. The UK could lead the way in Europe by recognising environmental and occupational risk factors, taking inspiration from progressive initiatives by the US and New Zealand Governments and the Canadian Cancer Society.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
The Department of Health recognises that there are many different types of cancer, the causes of which can be wide-ranging rather than there being a single cause for any particular type of cancer. It is known that lifestyle factors such as smoking, consumption of alcoholic beverages, physical activity/obesity, and also occupational exposure to certain chemicals in the past, especially asbestos, have a major influence on cancer incidence. It is very difficult to estimate the burden due to environmental factors but the available data are summarized below.
Exposure to ionizing radiation is known to produce leukaemia and other cancers, although there is little direct data available on the burden of disease from this cause. Exposure to radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, is a cause of lung cancer and there is a markedly increased risk in smokers. It has been estimated that about two per cent of cancer deaths in Europe may be due to radon. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight increases the risk of skin cancer.
There is little convincing evidence to indicate that environmental exposure to chemicals in the UK causes breast cancer or any other forms of cancer. New chemicals are fully tested for safety before they enter the market, and a number of initiatives, such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), are in progress to update the database on existing chemicals. However, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) is known to be associated with a 10-30 per cent increase in lung cancer.
Additionally, dietary factors are estimated to account for approximately 30 per cent of cancers in industrialised countries, making diet second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of cancer. In particular, obesity is associated with an increase in risk of some cancers such as colorectal and breast cancers, while increasing the intake of fruit and vegetables and physical activity are associated with decreased risk.
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