Women Exposed To Higher Levels Of DDT In Utero May Face Higher Risk Of Breast Cancer Later In Life

TIME (6/17, Worland) reports that research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism indicated that “women who had been exposed to higher levels of the pesticide DDT while in utero face increased risk of breast cancer later in life than those who were exposed to lower levels.”

        On its website, NBC News (6/17, Fox, Silverman) reports that investigators “studied blood taken from women during more than 20,000 pregnancies from 1959 through 1967.” These women “gave birth to 9,300 daughters during that time.”

        The Washington Post (6/17, Cha) “To Your Health” blog reports that the investigators “found that elevated levels of DDT in the mother’s blood were associated with” nearly “a four-fold increase in her daughter’s risk of breast cancer and that this was independent of the mother’s history of breast cancer.” The researchers “also determined that those with higher levels of exposure were diagnosed with more advanced breast cancer.” Approximately “83 percent of those who got breast cancer had estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer and were more likely to develop HER2-positive breast cancer.”

        On its website, Fox News (6/17, Cappon) reports that the “54-year study from the Endocrine Society is the first to directly link breast cancer risk to in utero exposure to the chemical pesticide DDT.”