Occupational and Environmental Cancer Among Women

Prospective Study of Cancer Among Women in China

The National Cancer Institute is collaborating with Vanderbilt University and the Shanghai Cancer Institute to evaluate causes of cancer among Chinese women. The Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch will take the lead on occupational and environmental exposures. A cohort of 75,000 women has been assembled and interviewed to obtain information on diet, occupational and environmental exposures, and various lifestyle factors. Blood and urine has been collected from 70,000 subjects. The cohort will be periodically recontacted to obtain updated and additional information and linked to vital records and the tumor registry to obtain information on disease. More information, Wong-Ho Chow and Bu-Tian Ji

Breast Cancer and Occupational and Environmental Exposures

Several studies are designed to evaluate the possible role of occupational and environmental factors in the origin of breast cancer. In collaboration with the Michigan Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, a case-control study of breast cancer and benign breast disease is being conducted in a cohort of women accidentally exposed to polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) in the mid-1970s. The risk of breast cancer and benign breast disease will be related to PBB in serum from bloods collected at the time of the exposure. Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch investigators are collaborating in case-control studies of breast cancer in Mexico and Alaska to evaluate the hypothesized relationship between serum levels of DDT and the risk of breast cancer. Evaluation of breast cancer and occupational exposures is occurring in a hospital-based case-control study at an oncologic hospital in Turkey and a study in Warsaw and Lodz, Poland. More information, Aaron Blair and Shelia Zahm