Water Filters and Breast Cancer: Keeping the Hope Alive

By Aquasana: Quality Home Water Filters for Pure, Healthy Water

In the United States alone, approximately 580 women will visit the doctor today to receive the life-altering news that they are suffering from breast cancer. Approximately 110 women who have suffered from breast cancer will die from the disease today, according to American Cancer Society statistics. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and it is second only to lung cancer as the most common cause of cancer death in women.

While 5%-10% of these cases of breast cancer are caused by non-preventable genetic factors, the overwhelming majority of the cases are a result of exposure to carcinogens.

One family of carcinogens, organochlorines, has played a particularly insidious role in causing breast cancer in the last several years. Despite the huge role of organochlorines in breast cancer cases, however, this chemical has only recently been correlated to breast cancer and is often ignored as a risk factor.

Organochlorines are a class of industrial chemicals that have been produced in mass amounts in the United States for just over 100 years. This class of chemicals includes DDT, dioxin, PBC, and the ozone-destroying CFCs. Organochlorines occur when chlorine is bonded to organic, or carbon-based, matter. These chemicals have been used for years in the production of both paper and plastic, as well as in the creation of pesticides.

Organochlorines also occur as a byproduct of drinking water chlorination, a practice that transpires daily in almost every American city.

Organochlorines are surprisingly durable in the environment, meaning that most chemicals created even 30 or 40 years ago still persist in the environment today. For example, there continue to be lingering effects of organochlorines that were used in the much-maligned pesticide DDT, banned in 1972.

While the causes of breast cancer are still largely unknown, elevated levels of the female sex hormone, estrogen, have been clearly linked to cases of this disease. In the body, organochlorines can mimic estrogen, causing the body to respond to increased levels of this female hormone. Organochlorines can also interfere with the body’s natural regulation of estrogen production. In addition, organochlorines can augment the ability of other chemicals to cause cancer and weaken the body’s natural immune response to tumors.

Much of the new knowledge concerning the role of organochlorines in cases of breast cancer is due to a 1992 study of breast cancer victims conducted in Hartford, Connecticut.

In this study, researchers found that women with breast cancer had organochlorines in their breast tissue at levels 50% to 60% higher than women without breast cancer.

These large numbers are hardly coincidental. Speaking of the study, Dr. Richard Clapp, the former director of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry, stated, “This is a very important study…we should all pay close attention to this one.” As cases of breast cancer continue to rise each year, we would be wise to take Dr. Clapp’s advice. Further research studies have linked organochlorines to cases of birth defects and miscarriages, as well.

Organochlorines are hardly the only cause of breast cancer, and they are likely not even the most common cause. However, they are one of the most preventable causes.

Reducing your exposure to carcinogenic organochlorines is one of the easiest ways to reduce your risk of breast cancer.

An explanatory anecdote of the case of Israel serves to validate this point. In the early 1970s, cases of breast cancer were on the rise in Israel, as was the use of organochlorines in industry. As a result of a rapid phase-out program of organochlorines, instituted by the Israeli government, cases of breast cancer actually began to decline as contamination from organochlorines declined. This decline is especially noteworthy, given that during the same time period, cases of breast cancer were rising rapidly throughout the rest of the world. Clearly, it remains within our power to reduce our own risk of cancer.

Knowing what we do about the role of organochlorines in cases of breast cancer, it is now possible to take precautionary steps against this particular carcinogenic chemical. Listed below are several ways in which you can reduce your risk of exposure to organochlorines:

• When cleaning, use natural cleaners (like baking soda and white vinegar). Commercially produced cleaners often contain chlorine bleach.
• Limit the use of pesticides on your lawn and garden as much as possible.
• Avoid drycleaning , if possible, as the main chemical used in this process is an organochlorine. If you must dryclean, be sure to air out clothes before wearing them.
• Use only recycled, chlorine-free paper products.
• Use only chlorine-free sanitary products and diapers.
• Run all water through a filtration unit to remove chlorine before use.

The final method of reducing exposure to organochlorines, running water through a water filter before using it, is actually one of the simplest and easiest ways to reduce risk. A water filter can reduce your exposure to both chlorine that has been added as a disinfectant to water and pesticides that occur in water as runoff chemicals. The extremely common pesticide, Atrazine, which contains dangerous levels of organochlorines, is quickly and easily removed by a water filtration system. Water filters also remove chlorine and its byproducts. Interestingly, chorine is one of the most elusive and difficult-to-remove contaminants of dinking water. A water filter is one of the only current treatment methods capable of removing it.

Of those 580 women who will receive the earth-shattering diagnosis of breast cancer today, more than half could have prevented that news by reducing their exposure to harmful carcinogens.

Because so few cases of breast cancer are entirely due to genetic factors, it is completely within our own power to ensure that we, or someone we know, do not succumb to that deadly disease. It is our responsibility to reduce risk whenever possible and to keep the hope alive. We can overcome breast cancer, one step at a time. Using a water filter to reduce exposure to organochlorines is simply one of those steps.