Misconceptions About Environmental Pollution, Pesticides and the Causes of Cancer
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Clearing Up Cancer Misconceptions
- Misconception #1: Cancer Rates Are Soaring
- Misconception #2: Environmental Synthetic Chemicals Are An Important Cause of Human Cancer
- Misconception #3: Reducing Pesticide Residues Is an Effective Way to Prevent Diet-Related Cancer The Program in Action
- Misconception #4: Identification of Carcinogenic Chemicals Should Be the Primary Strategy for Preventing Human Cancer
- Misconception #5: Human Exposures to Carcinogens and Other Potential Hazards Are Nearly All Due to Synthetic Chemicals
- Misconception #6: Cancer Risks to Humans Can Be Assessed By Standard High-Dose Animal Cancer Tests
- Misconception #7: Synthetic Chemicals Pose Greater Carcinogenic Hazards than Natural Chemicals
- Misconception #8: The Toxicology of Synthetic Chemicals Is Different from That of Natural Chemicals
- Misconception #9: Pesticides and Other Synthetic Chemicals Are Disrupting Hormones
- Misconception #10: Regulation of Low, Hypothetical Risks Is Effective in Advancing Public Health
- Appendix
- Notes
- About the Authors
Misconception #9: Pesticides and Other Synthetic Chemicals Are Disrupting Hormones
"Even if sperm counts were declining, there are many more likely causes, such as smoking and diet."
Synthetic hormone mimics have become an environmental issue. Hormonal factors are important in cancer, as mentioned in Misconception #2. The 1996 book Our Stolen Future73 claims that traces of synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides with weak hormonal activity, may contribute to cancer and reduce sperm counts. The book ignores the fact that our normal diet contains natural chemicals that have estrogenic activity millions of times higher than that due to the traces of synthetic estrogenic chemicals74 and that lifestyle factors can markedly change the levels of endogenous hormones [see Misconception #2]. The low levels of exposure to residues of industrial chemicals in humans are toxicologically implausible as a significant cause of cancer or of reproductive abnormalities, especially when compared to the natural background.75 In addition, it has not been shown convincingly that sperm counts are declining,76 and even if they were, there are many more likely causes, such as smoking and diet.
