Overexposure to plasticizers nearly doubles women’s risk of contracting breast cancer, with that likelihood rising among those who have a poor metabolism, a comprehensive study by local researchers has found.
Academia Sinica vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) reported the results of a long-term research study conducted by Academia Sinica, the National Health Research Institutes, National Taiwan University Hospital and other groups.
“Our research team collected urine samples from nearly 12,000 women across seven communities in Taiwan starting in 1991 and tracked 128 female breast cancer patients and 251 women in a control group to analyze the metabolic materials in their urine,” Chen said.
The results indicate that overexposure to plasticizers makes a woman 1.9 times as likely to develop breast cancer and in the case of those with poor metabolisms, that number rises to 3.4.
Chen said the research was conducted over more than 20 years and gathered extensive samples, branding it “the most convincing report yet that substantiates the premise that exposure to plasticizers increases the likelihood of breast cancer.”
The researchers next plan to study how plasticizer exposure affects the risk of women developing endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and lung adenocarcinoma.
Chen said that the medical community has long speculated that having excessive amounts of plasticizers in one’s body can cause breast cancer, either by destroying the body’s hormonal balance, thereby causing breast cells to become abnormal and cancerous, or because plasticizers cause a lot of oxidation during metabolism, which could result in gene transformation.
He said that the number of breast cancer patients in Taiwan has climbed in recent years, with the occurrence rate among women younger than 50 similar to those seen in Europe and the US.
Chen said that other factors linked to breast cancer include the excessive consumption of animal fat, late pregnancy, breastfeeding, early menstruation and exposure to environmental hormones.
He said that plasticizers are an ubiquitous feature of most people’s daily lives, being present in things such as toys, cables and shower curtains. In normal situations, the metabolic material is released via the kidneys in 24 to 48 hours, so that the risk of overexposure is small.
To avoid overexposure to these chemicals, he suggested that women increase their water consumption, exercise more and have regular checkups for early cancer detection.
In the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s list of top 10 causes of death in the nation last year, cancer occupied the top spot for the 32nd year.
Among the mortalities, breast cancer was ranked as the fourth leading cause of death. A total of 1,962 women in Taiwan died of breast cancer last year, with the average age of the deceased being 58.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and