Other Toxic Substances - BPA and Methylparaben: Study: BPA, Parabens Linked to Breast Cancer

Researchers at the California Pacific Medical Center said their observations warranted the need to reinforce the concern bisphenol-A (BPA) and methylparaben (MP), at low concentrations detected in humans, can have adverse health consequences, suggesting an increased risk of breast cancer, an estrogen driven disease (Carcinogenesis. Sept. 1, 2011).

Treatments for menopausal symptoms such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have correlated with disease incidence;

however, increasing male breast cancer rates over the past three decades implicate additional sources of estrogenic exposure, including wide spread estrogen-mimicking chemicals or xenoestrogens (XEs), such as BPA, commonly found in plastics.

By exposing renewable, human, high-risk donor, breast epithelial cells (HRBECs) to BPA at concentrations that are detectable in human blood, placenta and milk, researchers previously identified gene expression profile changes associated with activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway genesets likely to trigger pro-survival changes in human breast cells, which now provide functional validation of mTOR activation using pair wise comparisons of 16 independent HRBEC samples with and without BPA exposure.

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Other Toxic Substances: BPA, methylparaben bypass breast cancer drugs: study

In the study, doctors from California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco found that healthy breast cells from high-risk patients started to find ways to bypass breast cancer drugs after they were exposed to BPA and methylparaben in the lab.

The research shows more evidence of safety issues of BPA, a chemical primarily used to make plastic baby bottles, food containers, household electronics and etc, as well as the less known methylparaben, a chemical preservative used in cosmetics and other personal care products.

The researchers noted that the breast cancer rates have been growing by about the same amount in men as in women over the past three decades. Scientists have been looking at environmental causes for the disease and wondering where the hormones are coming from.

Goodson said BPA and methylparaben are used so widely and even found in household dust, noting that it is still unknown whether the effects of exposure to the chemicals are reversible.

As for methylparaben, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on its website that "at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about the uses of cosmetics containing parabens (including methylparaben)."

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