A woman has a one in eight chance of having breast cancer in her lifetime, but less than one in 10 of those women are born with a genetic predisposition for the disease. Radiation (including medical radiation) and longer lifetime exposures to the hormone estrogen, and perhaps also to progesterone, can increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer. Industrial chemicals that act like the hormones estrogen and progesterone may be adding to women’s breast cancer risk. Other factors may also play a role.

Resources

Breast Cancer Fund’s Race and Breast Cancer Fact Sheet

Center for Environmental Oncology's Environmental Risk of Breast Cancer in African American Women 

Collaborative on Health and the Environment ‘s 2006 Consensus Statement on Breast Cancer and the Environment

Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Breast Cancer Peer-Reviewed Analysis

Silent Spring’s Findings of the Breast Cancer and Environment Study

State of the Evidence:  What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer? by Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Action

Susan G. Komen’s Environmental Factors and Breast Cancer Science Review

Vassar College's Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer Project