Do organochlorine pesticides affect breast cancer risk in women?
Organochlorine pesticides were used extensively during and after WWII because of their long-lasting effects in controlling insects. Most were banned during the 1970s and 1980s in the US, Canada and Europe because of human health and ecological concerns. Some examples of organochlorine pesticides include: DDT (used in mosquito control and agriculture), dieldrin (used to control termites and other soil insects), chlordane and heptachlor (used to control termites and fire ants), lindane (currently used in agriculture and in anti-lice shampoos), beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (by-product of lindane manufacture), and hexachlorobenzene (fungicide used to prevent mold on crops). These long-lasting chemicals concentrate as they pass up the food chain and are stored in the body fat of animals, fish and humans. Some are endocrine disruptors that affect reproduction in wildlife, especially birds and reptiles. While there are links to some types of cancers (for instance, several organochlorines induce
