Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9401150018
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAUREL B. HOPWOOD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the summer of 1991, Theo Colburn, a scientist with the World Wildlife Fund, met with 21 scientists to discuss wildlife changes in the Great Lakes. Bingo. In each scientist's own field of study, it was found that a large number of synthetic chemicals have the potential to disrupt the endocrine systems of animals. These chemicals, called organochlorines, don't break down easily. Meanwhile, they accumulate in fatty tissue and then get passed throughout the food chain.
Research continued as Frank Falck found that organochlorine residues are higher in mammary fatty tissue from women who have breast cancer as opposed to women who have benign tumors.
Mary Wolff continued to piece together the puzzle. In conjunction with the National Cancer Institute, Wolff revealed that there were significantly elevated blood levels of organochlorine residues in women with breast cancer. These scientists suggested that these chemicals act by inducing estrogen activity. Devra Lee Davis, senior adviser to the U.S. assistant secretary for health, recognized that higher lifetime estrogen exposure means higher breast-cancer risk.
What are these chemicals that mimic estrogen? Primarily pesticides, chemicals commonly used to kill weeds, insects and fungus. Like an unwanted guest who keeps coming for dinner, they end up on our kitchen table, in the food we eat, as a result of our chemical-dependent agricultural practices.
They come back to us from Third World countries where U.S.-banned pesticides, such as DDT, are still used. Factory-farmed animals pass on more than 140 pesticide and drug residues. Fish feed on pesticide-laden plankton and then we eat the fish. Human breast milk is so contaminated with organochlorine residues, that our milk could not legally be sold in interstate commerce. This doesn't take into account the added effect of pesticides used in lawn care and inside buildings.
Men want their mates to have breasts. Women want their bodies to be as is ordained. Are women afflicted with this devastating disease to blame? For being born with a pesticide burden via umbilical-cord blood from the mother's exposure? For drinking cow or human pesticide-laden milk as a baby? For getting one third of a lifetime pesticide dose before age 5 (according to a research analysis on the National Academy of Science report, ``Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children''). Are farmers to blame for chemically dependent practices, when economic incentives and educational opportunities to convert to organic farming are lacking?
The top-selling weedkiller, atrazine, causes breast cancer in laboratory rodents. There is no Environmental Protection Agency requirement to ban pesticides that cause mammary tumors in rats. There hasn't even been an EPA requirement to test pesticides for estrogenicity, the ability to mimic estrogen. How can health needs of women and children be protected when legal pesticide limits are based on the model of a male adult? On Oct. 21, scientists gave testimony before Congress to ask for these concerns to be addressed.
The current focus has been on detection and treatment. Meanwhile, pesticides are bioaccumulating in the environment. In Israel, after organochlorine pesticides were restricted, breast-cancer rates dropped. How long shall we shuffle our feet while breast-cancer rates skyrocket? In this ``war'' on the breast-cancer epidemic, where is prevention?
We need a precautionary approach, by minimizing our exposure to pesticides in our yards, buildings and food. Alternatives are available. We can assume personal responsibility by making responsible consumer choices. We can carry out a vision of promoting sustainable (organic) and humane (free-range) agricultural practices. Humane stewardship can heal ourselves and this world that we borrow during our lifetime.
\ Laurel B. Hopwood, a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, registered nurse and board- certified physician assistant, is pesticide chair of the Northeast Ohio Sierra Club.
by CNB