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Second-Hand Smoke Linked to Breast Cancer

Posted on: Monday, 4 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Study finds risk increases by 70%

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donna.chisholm@star-times.co.nz

SECOND-HAND smoke has for the first time been conclusively linked to breast cancer in an American study which researchers here say has major ramifications for New Zealand women.

The Californian study found exposure to second-hand smoke increased the risk of breast cancer by 70%.

Researchers said passive smoking caused breast cancer in younger, primarily pre-menopausal women under 50, but appeared to have no effect on older, mainly post-menopausal women.

Women were especially vulnerable to smoke exposure between the time of their first period and first pregnancy.

Public health physician Murray Laugesen said the data indicated exposure to second-hand smoke caused up to a fifth of new cases of breast cancer in women under 50 - more than 70 a year based on 2003 figures. Almost half the risk came from from exposure at work.

The report, by the California Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants, found active smoking also increased breast cancer risk.

Laugesen said on New Zealand figures, that meant 150 cases a year were caused by smoking.

"This is about the first proof that there is a prevention factor in breast cancer. In the past, when women asked what they could do to prevent breast cancer, the only thing was a double mastectomy."

It was the first time any research had definitively linked smoking and breast cancer. Previous research had been hampered by failure to ensure that the women in the control group not only had never smoked, but also had never been exposed to second-hand smoke.

He said the report concluded that the effects of direct smoking had been hidden in the past by the fact that smoking had an anti- oestrogen effect as well as creating cancer-causing gases, and by the lack of a truly smoke and smoker-free control group.

Auckland breast physician Jackie Blue said breast cancer was a disease of older women, but rates had noticeably increased in the 35- 39 age group between 1996 and 2000.

"It's a real worry. It's what we are doing to our bodies every day - drinking, smoking, eating the wrong foods, not exercising . . .

New Zealand has about 2400 new cases of breast cancer each year, and about 640 deaths.

Exposure to oestrogen over a lifetime was implicated in breast cancer - the age of first pregnancy, number of pregnancies, breastfeeding, diet and lifestyle, either increased levels of oestrogen in the body or the way it was metabolised.

Laugesen said the research meant breast cancer should be mentioned to women to help them to give up smoking and to encourage families to ensure homes were smokefree.

Smoking has been banned in the workplace since 1991 and in bars and restaurants since December.

Source: Sunday Star - Times; Wellington, New Zealand

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