Breast cancer is a major health issue in California, being the most common and the second deadliest cancer among women in the state.
Nearly 200,000 women in California are living with breast cancer, and about 4,200 are expected to die from it this year. Despite laws to control carcinogens, many chemicals linked to breast cancer are still found in everyday items such as makeup, clothing, and cleaning products, as well as in the environment including air, water, and soil.
Moreover, millions of women work in jobs where exposure to these harmful chemicals is hard to avoid.
The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP), led by the University of California and funded by taxpayers, is the largest state-funded breast cancer research initiative in the country. It has spent $300 million on over 1,200 studies to advance breast cancer science.
This program has made significant progress in understanding, treating, and preventing breast cancer over its four decades. However, there’s still a lot to learn, especially regarding how workplace exposures contribute to breast cancer risk.
One notable project, the Women’s Occupations and Risks from Chemicals (WORC), led by experts including Peggy Reynolds and Robert Harrison, aims to understand how chemicals encountered in workplaces and everyday products affect breast cancer risk.
The project has developed an online tool to show the exposure of California’s 8 million working women to cancer-linked chemicals, highlighting the significant risks certain jobs pose.
The WORC study also found that occupational exposure to these chemicals varies by race and ethnicity, with Hispanic housekeepers and Black personal care aides facing high levels of exposure, while white women in administrative roles have significantly lower exposure risks.
Despite these findings, avoiding exposure is not always possible, especially for women in lower-paid, less secure jobs, who might not have the authority to choose safer products at work. The costs of safer alternatives and the power dynamics in workplaces make it difficult to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals.
Efforts to protect women from breast cancer risks include laws like California’s Proposition 65, which requires businesses to warn about the presence of cancer-causing chemicals.
Research has shown that Californians have lower levels of many harmful chemicals, partly due to such regulations. Moreover, California’s strict laws on diesel pollution have significantly improved air quality and reduced health risks related to diesel exhaust.
The support from Californians through tax contributions and other means has been crucial in funding breast cancer research and public health initiatives. These efforts aim not just to make individuals responsible for avoiding risks but to create a safer environment through better laws, industry practices, and public awareness.
While significant progress has been made in understanding and fighting breast cancer in California, ongoing research and policy efforts are essential to further reduce the disease’s impact and protect women from occupational and environmental exposures to carcinogens.