Breast cancer and environmental contamination: A real connection?

AbstractBreast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women and the second cause of cancer-related death in the world. This review describes the effects of bisphenol A, phthalates, and parabens, important environmental chemicals that have been associated with developing breast cancer. With more or less success, most of the studies have failed to establish a definitive correlation between cause and effect. The reason for these discrepancies and lack of consistency seems clear in some cases but is blurred in others. Here, we outline the facts reported in the literature and suggest that more studies should be done to clarify gene–environment interactions that could lead to breast cancer, and to identify groups of women that could be at higher risk according to their epigenome, since it seems that environmental chemicals are more harmful than previously thought.