New research reveals 485 chemicals in US pesticide products linked to breast cancer | US News

New research has identified at least 485 chemicals used in U.S. pesticide products that are linked to breast cancer, raising questions about the safety of food and other products at a time when rates of early-onset breast cancer are increasing around the world.

The new peer-reviewed paper, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a leading journal of the American Chemical Society, highlights what public health advocates say are a series of shortcomings in the way pesticides are regulated in the United States. The review covers active ingredients in pesticides, but also hundreds of so-called “inert” or inactive ingredients that are not typically subject to extensive safety review.

The Environmental Protection Agency only considers the individual health risks of each pesticide ingredient and does not consider the entire pesticide formulation or exposure to multiple pesticides. Chemicals are not only found in pesticides used on crops, but also in lice treatments applied to children’s scalps, fertilizers for home lawns, and flea and tick treatments.

“The addition of these exposures becomes quite consequential and concerning,” said Jenny Kay, co-author of a report for the nonprofit Silent Spring Institute. “We wanted to draw more attention to pesticides in different products. »

Besides skin cancers, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. Breast cancer incidence rates have increased by 1% per year, according to the American Cancer Society, and this increase has actually been slightly faster among women under 50 (1.4%).

Pesticide use has also increased in recent years, as federal health data through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) show that 84 of these specific chemicals linked to breast cancer are present in the general population. But that figure, scientists say, is an underestimate because it doesn’t track most of the compounds identified by the Silent Spring Institute.

The pesticide review is part of a broader systematic effort by the institute to identify areas in the economy and daily life where people are exposed to chemicals linked to breast cancer. She identified around 500 in everyday consumer goods and 462 in drinking water.

Only about 145 of the identified chemical pesticides have been registered with the EPA as active ingredients, meaning the chemical industry is either using inert status to avoid health inspection or exploiting other loopholes.

Inactive or inert ingredients are usually added as surfactants or penetrating agents that help disperse the active ingredients or make them more absorbable. Approximately 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the EPA, including the “forever chemicals” Pfas. They are often added to make the pesticide more toxic to a living organism.

“They’re not biologically inert, they’re just called inert because they don’t target pests,” Kay said. In other words, the body does not distinguish between inert and active substances, and inactive substances pose no less danger to human health.

“It’s a regulatory blind spot,” Kay said. The EPA in 2023 denied a legal request to begin more strictly reviewing inert ingredients.

Kay said another problem is hormone-disrupting chemicals that cause illness at lower, but not higher, exposure levels. This “non-monotonic dose response” has led the EPA to dismiss the risks of certain chemicals and ignore the fact that they can cause cancer at low levels.

Top officials in the EPA’s offices of pesticide and chemical safety are former industry lobbyists. The Pesticides Board, in particular, is seen as heavily infiltrated by and subject to industry influence.

“I’m not the head of EPA scientists, but I’m very concerned about industry pressure and the revolving door between EPA and industry employees because all of that factors into how EPA views and regulates chemicals,” Kay said.

The Silent Spring Institute has called for an expansion of California’s Proposition 65, which requires warnings for chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The study identified 16 pesticides that are not listed under Prop 65, and the authors say adding these chemicals could discourage companies from using them.

People can protect themselves by purchasing organic produce or produce that has not been treated with pesticides whenever possible. If that’s not possible, Consumer Reports offers an easy-to-use guide to which fruits and vegetables typically contain the highest levels of pesticide residue. These include blueberries, watermelon, kale and green beans.

A recent report found that about 25 percent of the nation’s water consumption and about 675,000 wells draw water contaminated with dangerous levels of atrazine, a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to breast cancer. Water filtration systems can filter pesticides from water, and while no system is perfect, activated carbon and reverse osmosis usually do the best job.