Ambient Air Toxics and Breast Cancer Risk
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Non-technical overview of the research topic and relevance to breast cancer: 
 California has among the highest levels of air pollution in the nation, due in part to heavy reliance on automobiles for transportation as well as its leading role in the nation’s agricultural production. In addition, EPA has reported that 31.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released in California in 2015 from 1,242 industrial facilities, making California 3rd among US states with regards to the number of industrial facilities. The possible role of these air toxics and industrial pollutants in breast cancer risk is not well understood. Many of the chemical agents that are highly released in California have not been examined in-depth with regards to any putative role in breast cancer, and much of the existing literature has used cross-sectional data at diagnosis, i.e. they may not be examining the most relevant time period for cancer initiation. In addition, research has been limited which has focused on women of color. 
 
 
 
 
 The question(s) or central hypotheses of the research: 
 We aim to examine hypotheses of exposure to air toxics in breast cancer risk. In particular we will focus on commonly released agents in California which have been previously associated with breast cancer; established or suspected carcinogens; and known endocrine disruptors. 
 
 
 
 
 The general methodology: 
 We will use data from the Multiethnic Cohort, which at present includes 3246 cases of breast cancer among 60,756 women participants residing in California (mostly in Los Angeles County). Our cohort is mainly African American and Latina, but also includes women of Japanese, Hawaiian, and White descent. In previous studies by our group we have determined the latitude and longitude of each participant’s residential address(es), and we are calculating exposure to traffic pollution based on these addresses. In this study, we would expand this to link to air toxics measurements which are collected from the California Air Resources Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study. We would additionally link to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) model and industrial pollutant releases which are reported to the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory. These data sources will allow us to examine a number of agents suspected to be related to breast cancer risk. 
 
 
 
 
 Innovative elements of the project and potential impact: 
 Despite that a number of chemical agents have been possibly linked to breast cancer in animal studies, there are few published studies which have examined ambient air toxics and industrial releases in relation to human breast cancer risk. Should the air toxics we examine be associated with breast cancer risk, it would provide data to support actions by State, Local, or National agencies to limit emissions of these agents. In addition, protections could be put into place for women who may be exposed via employment in related industries. Our published results would provide valuable data for national and international organizations [US EPA, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)’s Monograph Program] that evaluate the health risks of chemical agents and make recommendations to protect health.