Breast Cancer and Pesticides

Filed in archive Breast Cancer on February 1, 2007

Bugs! We all hate them. Right? So, how do we get rid of them? Well, one solution is to use an insecticide. A variety of these pesticides is available.

However, these products may cause more problems than they solve. Not only do they get into a person's system by inhaling the spray, they also get into our food supply. Spray your garden, and the spray remains on the plants. If they aren't washed thoroughly, we end up eating the pesticide along with the lettuce. When you sprayed the garden, dozens of bugs dropped to the ground. Birds flew down and ate them. The poisoned bugs passed through the bird and became a part of the soil where you will plant next year's garden.

A new issue has come to light. According to an article in the Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog, pesticides may be a factor in breast cancer.

Breast cancer groups across the country have a new issue to add to the repertoire of risk factors: Pesticide use. A study published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found a strong link between residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk in women. Responding to the study, Susan Teitelbaum, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of community medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, says the options are simple- "Stop using pesticides."

And we can stop using pesticides. There are alternative methods to control the insect population.