Breast cancer is now recognized as a substantial global health concern. This disease is quite widespread, and it is the leading factor behind women mortality. Despite the fact that disease is found all across the world, its mortality, incidence, and survival rates varied significantly between regions. Breast cancer is a type of cancer that is affected by a range of factors including lifestyle, population structure, genetic factors, and environmental pollutants. Environmental contaminants may serve a crucial part in the etiology of this disease. Prolonged exposure to environmental contaminants, particularly those that have an estrogenic effect, may have a key role in carcinogenesis, particularly in hormone-related cancers like breast cancer. This study reviews various environmental pollutants like pesticides, air pollutants, metals, radiation exposure, water pollutants, solvents, hair dyes, and persistent organic pollutants as potential breast cancer risk factors. Several evidences have established a link between breast cancer and numerous contaminants in the environment. Recognizing the various underlying risk factors for breast cancer could facilitate in preventing the disease.

 

1.
Torre
,
L. A.
,
Bray
,
F.
,
Siegel
,
R. L.
,
Ferlay
,
J.
,
Lortet-Tieulent
,
J.
, &
Jemal
,
A.
(
2015
).
Global cancer statistics, 2012
.
CA: a cancer journal for clinicians
,
65
(
2
),
87
108
.
2.
Bray
,
F.
,
Ferlay
,
J.
,
Soerjomataram
,
I.
,
Siegel
,
R. L.
,
Torre
,
L. A.
,
&Jemal
,
A.
(
2018
).
Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries
.
CA: a cancer journal for clinicians
,
68
(
6
),
394
424
.
3.
Silva
,
A.
,
Campos
,
P. H.
,
Mattos
,
I. E.
,
Hajat
,
S.
,
Lacerda
,
E. M.
, &
Ferreira
,
M. J.
(
2019
).
Environmental Exposure to Pesticides and Breast Cancer in a Region of Intensive Agribusiness Activity in Brazil: A Case-Control Study
.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
,
16
(
20
),
3951
.
4.
DeSantis
,
C. E.
,
Bray
,
F.
,
Ferlay
,
J.
,
Lortet-Tieulent
,
J.
,
Anderson
,
B. O.
, &
Jemal
,
A.
(
2015
).
International variation in female breast cancer incidence and mortality rates
.
Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers
,
24
(
10
),
1495
1506
.
5.
Gangemi
,
S.
,
Miozzi
,
E.
,
Teodoro
,
M.
,
Briguglio
,
G.
,
De Luca
,
A.
,
Alibrando
,
C.
, … &
Libra
,
M.
(
2016
).
Occupational exposure to pesticides as a possible risk factor for the development of chronic diseases in humans
.
Molecular medicine reports
,
14
(
5
),
4475
4488
.
6.
Fenga
,
C.
(
2016
).
Occupational exposure and risk of breast cancer
.
Biomedical reports
,
4
(
3
),
282
292
.
7.
Marzena
,
K.
,
Tomasz
,
C.
,
Karolina
,
Ł. S.
,
Paweł
,
M.
, &
Elżbieta
,
S.
(
2015
).
Breast cancer risk factors
.
Menopausal Review
,
3
,
196
202
.
8.
Rodgers
,
K. M.
,
Udesky
,
J. O.
,
Rudel
,
R. A.
, &
Brody
,
J. G.
(
2018
).
Environmental chemicals and breast cancer: an updated review of epidemiological literature informed by biological mechanisms
.
Environmental research
,
160
,
152
182
.
9.
Brody
,
J. G.
, &
Rudel
,
R. A.
(
2003
).
Environmental pollutants and breast cancer
.
Environmental health perspectives
,
111
(
8
),
1007
1019
.
10.
Acheampong
,
T.
,
Yuan
,
J. M.
,
Koh
,
W. P.
,
Jin
,
A.
, &
Odegaard
,
A.
(
2018
). Occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting substances and the risk of breast Cancer: the Singapore Chinese health study.
BMC public health
,
18
(
1
),
1
7
.
11.
Gore
,
A. C.
,
Chappell
,
V. A.
,
Fenton
,
S. E.
,
Flaws
,
J. A.
,
Nadal
,
A.
,
Prins
,
G. S.
, … &
Zoeller
,
R. T.
(
2015
).
Executive summary to EDC-2: the Endocrine Society's second scientific statement on endocrine-disrupting chemicals
.
Endocrine reviews
,
36
(
6
),
593
602
.
12.
Ferro
,
R.
,
Parvathaneni
,
A.
,
Patel
,
S.
, &
Cheriyath
,
P.
(
2012
).
Pesticides and breast cancer
.
Advances in Breast Cancer Research
,
1
(
03
),
30
.
13.
de Oliveira Santos
,
M.
(
2018
).
Estimativa 2018: incidência de câncer no Brasil
.
Revista Brasileira de Cancerologia
,
64
(
1
),
119
120
.
14.
Calle
,
E. E.
,
Frumkin
,
H.
,
Henley
,
S. J.
,
Savitz
,
D. A.
, &
Thun
,
M. J.
(
2002
).
Organochlorines and breast cancer risk
.
CA: a cancer journal for clinicians
,
52
(
5
),
301
309
.
15.
Andreotti
,
G.
,
Hou
,
L.
,
Freeman
,
L. E. B.
,
Mahajan
,
R.
,
Koutros
,
S.
,
Coble
,
J.
, … &
Alavanja
,
M.
(
2010
).
Body mass index, agricultural pesticide use, and cancer incidence in the Agricultural Health Study cohort
.
Cancer Causes & Control
,
21
(
11
),
1759
1775
.
16.
Fenik
,
J.
,
Tankiewicz
,
M.
, &
Biziuk
,
M.
(
2011
).
Properties and determination of pesticides in fruits and vegetables
.
TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry
,
30
(
6
),
814
826
.
17.
El-Zaemey
,
S.
,
Heyworth
,
J.
, &
Fritschi
,
L.
(
2013
).
Noticing pesticide spray drift from agricultural pesticide application areas and breast cancer: a case-control study
.
Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
,
37
(
6
),
547
555
.
18.
Xu
,
X.
,
Dailey
,
A. B.
,
Talbott
,
E. O.
,
Ilacqua
,
V. A.
,
Kearney
,
G.
, &
Asal
,
N. R.
(
2010
).
Associations of serum concentrations of organochlorine pesticides with breast cancer and prostate cancer in US adults
.
Environmental health perspectives
,
118
(
1
),
60
66
.
19.
Eldakroory
,
S. A.
,
Morsi
,
D. E.
,
Abdel-Rahman
,
R. H.
,
Roshdy
,
S.
,
Gouida
,
M. S.
, &
Khashaba
,
E. O.
(
2017
).
Correlation between toxic organochlorine pesticides and breast cancer
.
Human & experimental toxicology
,
36
(
12
),
1326
1334
.
20.
Tayour
,
C.
,
Ritz
,
B.
,
Langholz
,
B.
,
Mills
,
P. K.
,
Wu
,
A.
,
Wilson
,
J. P.
, … &
Cockburn
,
M.
(
2019
).
A case–control study of breast cancer risk and ambient exposure to pesticides
.
Environmental Epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
,
3
(
5
).
21.
Garcia
,
E.
,
Hurley
,
S.
,
Nelson
,
D. O.
,
Hertz
,
A.
, &
Reynolds
,
P.
(
2015
).
Hazardous air pollutants and breast cancer risk in California teachers: a cohort study
.
Environmental Health
,
14
(
1
),
1
14
.
22.
Hill
,
P.
, &
Wynder
,
E. L.
(
1979
).
Nicotine and cotinine in breast fluid
.
Cancer letters
,
6
(
4-5
),
251
254
.
23.
Binachon
,
B.
,
Dossus
,
L.
,
Danjou
,
A. M.
,
Clavel-Chapelon
,
F.
, &
Fervers
,
B.
(
2014
).
Life in urban areas and breast cancer risk in the French E3N cohort
.
European journal of epidemiology
,
29
(
10
),
743
751
.
24.
Chen
,
F.
, &
Bina
,
W. F.
(
2012
).
Correlation of white female breast cancer incidence trends with nitrogen dioxide emission levels and motor vehicle density patterns
.
Breast cancer research and treatment
,
132
(
1
),
327
333
.
25.
International Agency for Research on Cancer
. (
1987
).
Overall evaluations of carcinogenicity: and updating of IARC monographs, vol. 1 to 42. IARC monographs on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans: Suppl 7
.
IARC
,
7
,
1
440
.
26.
Huff
,
J. E.
,
Haseman
,
J. K.
,
DeMarini
,
D. M.
,
Eustis
,
S.
,
Maronpot
,
R. R.
,
Peters
,
A. C.
, … &
Jacobs
,
A. C.
(
1989
).
Multiple-site carcinogenicity of benzene in Fischer 344 rats and B6C3F1 mice
.
Environmental health perspectives
,
82
,
125
163
.
27.
Maltoni
,
C.
,
Ciliberti
,
A.
,
Pinto
,
C.
,
Soffritti
,
M.
,
Belpoggi
,
F.
, &
Menarini
,
L.
(
1997
).
Results of long-term experimental carcinogenicity studies of the effects of gasoline, correlated fuels, and major gasoline aromatics on rats
.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
,
837
(
1
),
15
52
.
28.
Morris
,
J. J.
, &
Seifter
,
E.
(
1992
).
The role of aromatic hydrocarbons in the genesis of breast cancer
.
Medical hypotheses
,
38
(
3
),
177
184
.
29.
Bonner
,
M. R.
,
Han
,
D.
,
Nie
,
J.
,
Rogerson
,
P.
,
Vena
,
J. E.
,
Muti
,
P.
, … &
Freudenheim
,
J. L.
(
2005
).
Breast cancer risk and exposure in early life to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using total suspended particulates as a proxy measure
.
Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers
,
14
(
1
),
53
60
.
30.
Coyle
,
Y. M.
,
Hynan
,
L. S.
,
Euhus
,
D. M.
, &
Minhajuddin
,
A. T.
(
2005
).
An ecological study of the association of environmental chemicals on breast cancer incidence in Texas
.
Breast cancer research and treatment
,
92
(
2
),
107
114
.
31.
Kuzmickiene
,
I.
,
Didziapetris
,
R.
, &
Stukonis
,
M.
(
2004
).
Cancer incidence in the workers cohort of textile manufacturing factory in Alytus, Lithuania
.
Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
,
46
(
2
),
147
153
.
32.
Petralia
,
S. A.
,
Vena
,
J. E.
,
Freudenheim
,
J. L.
,
Dosemeci
,
M.
,
Michalek
,
A.
,
Goldberg
,
M. S.
, … &
Graham
,
S.
(
1999
).
Risk of premenopausal breast cancer in association with occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and benzene
.
Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health
,
215
221
.
33.
Wei
,
Y.
,
Davis
,
J.
, &
Bina
,
W. F.
(
2012
).
Ambient air pollution is associated with the increased incidence of breast cancer in US
.
International journal of environmental health research
,
22
(
1
),
12
21
.
34.
Florea
,
A. M.
, &
Büsselberg
,
D.
(
2011
).
Metals and breast cancer: risk factors or healing agents?
.
Journal of toxicology
, 2011.
35.
Siewit
,
C. L.
,
Gengler
,
B.
,
Vegas
,
E.
,
Puckett
,
R.
, &
Louie
,
M. C.
(
2010
).
Cadmium promotes breast cancer cell proliferation by potentiating the interaction between ERα and c-Jun
.
Molecular Endocrinology
,
24
(
5
),
981
992
.
36.
Gallagher
,
C. M.
,
Chen
,
J. J.
, &
Kovach
,
J. S.
(
2010
).
Environmental cadmium and breast cancer risk
.
Aging (Albany NY)
,
2
(
11
),
804
.
37.
Lappano
,
R.
,
Malaguarnera
,
R.
,
Belfiore
,
A.
, &
Maggiolini
,
M.
(
2017
).
Recent advances on the stimulatory effects of metals in breast cancer
.
Molecular and cellular endocrinology
,
457
,
49
56
.
38.
Ionescu
,
J. G.
,
Novotny
,
J.
,
Stejskal
,
V.
,
Laetsch
,
A.
,
Blaurock-Busch
,
E.
, &
Eisenmann-Klein
,
M.
(
2006
).
Increased levels of transition metals in breast cancer tissue
.
Neuro endocrinology letters
,
27
,
36
39
.
39.
Romanowicz-Makowska
,
H.
,
Forma
,
E.
,
Bryś
,
M.
,
Krajewska
,
W. M.
, &
Smolarz
,
B.
(
2011
).
Concentration of cadmium, nickel and aluminium in female breast cancer
.
Polish Journal of Pathology
,
62
(
4
),
257
.
40.
Pavithra
,
V.
,
Sathisha
,
T. G.
,
Kasturi
,
K.
,
Mallika
,
D. S.
,
Amos
,
S. J.
, &
Ragunatha
,
S.
(
2015
).
Serum levels of metal ions in female patients with breast cancer
.
Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR
,
9
(
1
), BC25.
41.
Cihan
,
Y. B.
,
Sözen
,
S.
, &
Yıldırım
,
S. Ö.
(
2011
).
Trace elements and heavy metals in hair of stage III breast cancer patients
.
Biological trace element research
,
144
(
1
),
360
379
.
42.
Rehman
,
S.
, &
Husnain
,
S. M.
(
2014
).
A probable risk factor of female breast cancer: study on benign and malignant breast tissue samples
.
Biological trace element research
,
157
(
1
),
24
29
.
43.
Ng
,
A. K.
, &
Travis
,
L. B.
(
2009
).
Radiation therapy and breast cancer risk
.
Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
,
7
(
10
),
1121
1128
.
44.
Travis
,
L. B.
,
Hill
,
D.
,
Dores
,
G. M.
,
Gospodarowicz
,
M.
,
Van Leeuwen
,
F. E.
,
Holowaty
,
E.
, … &
Gail
,
M. H.
(
2005
).
Cumulative absolute breast cancer risk for young women treated for Hodgkin lymphoma
.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
,
97
(
19
),
1428
1437
.
45.
Preston
,
D. L.
,
Mattsson
,
A.
,
Holmberg
,
E.
,
Shore
,
R.
,
Hildreth
,
N. G.
, &
Boice
Jr
, J. D. (
2002
).
Radiation effects on breast cancer risk: a pooled analysis of eight cohorts
.
Radiation research
,
158
(
2
),
220
235
.
46.
Inskip
,
P. D.
,
Robison
,
L. L.
,
Stovall
,
M.
,
Smith
,
S. A.
,
Hammond
,
S.
,
Mertens
,
A. C.
, … &
Neglia
,
J. P.
(
2009
).
Radiation dose and breast cancer risk in the childhood cancer survivor study
.
Journal of clinical oncology
,
27
(
24
),
3901
.
47.
Kleinerman
,
R. A.
(
2006
).
Cancer risks following diagnostic and therapeutic radiation exposure in children
.
Pediatric radiology
,
36
(
2
),
121
125
.
48.
Ma
,
H.
,
Hill
,
C. K.
,
Bernstein
,
L.
, &
Ursin
,
G.
(
2008
).
Low-dose medical radiation exposure and breast cancer risk in women under age 50 years overall and by estrogen and progesterone receptor status: results from a case–control and a case–case comparison
.
Breast cancer research and treatment
,
109
(
1
),
77
90
.
49.
Morris
,
R. D.
(
1995
).
Drinking water and cancer
.
Environmental health perspectives
,
103
(suppl 8),
225
231
.
50.
Brody
,
J. G.
,
Aschengrau
,
A.
,
McKelvey
,
W.
,
Swartz
,
C. H.
,
Kennedy
,
T.
, &
Rudel
,
R. A.
(
2006
).
Breast cancer risk and drinking water contaminated by wastewater: a case control study
.
Environmental Health
,
5
(
1
),
1
11
.
51.
Aschengrau
,
A.
,
Rogers
,
S.
, &
Ozonoff
,
D.
(
2003
).
Perchloroethylene-contaminated drinking water and the risk of breast cancer: additional results from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
.
Environmental health perspectives
,
111
(
2
),
167
173
.
52.
Labreche
,
F. P.
, &
Goldberg
,
M. S.
(
1997
).
Exposure to organic solvents and breast cancer in women: a hypothesis
.
American journal of industrial medicine
,
32
(
1
),
1
14
.
53.
Brody
,
J. G.
,
Moysich
,
K. B.
,
Humblet
,
O.
,
Attfield
,
K. R.
,
Beehler
,
G. P.
, &
Rudel
,
R. A.
(
2007
).
Environmental pollutants and breast cancer: epidemiologic studies
.
Cancer: Interdisciplinary International Journal of the American Cancer Society
,
109
,
2667
2711
.
54.
Glass
,
D. C.
,
Heyworth
,
J.
,
Thomson
,
A. K.
,
Peters
,
S.
,
Saunders
,
C.
, &
Fritschi
,
L.
(
2015
).
Occupational exposure to solvents and risk of breast cancer
.
American journal of industrial medicine
,
58
(
9
),
915
922
.
55.
Hansen
,
J.
(
1999
).
Breast cancer risk among relatively young women employed in solvent-using industries
.
American journal of industrial medicine
,
36
(
1
),
43
47
.
56.
Ekenga
,
C. C.
,
Parks
,
C. G.
,
D'Aloisio
,
A. A.
,
DeRoo
,
L. A.
, &
Sandler
,
D. P.
(
2014
).
Breast cancer risk after occupational solvent exposure: the influence of timing and setting
.
Cancer research
,
74
(
11
),
3076
3083
.
57.
Heikkinen
,
S.
,
Pitkäniemi
,
J.
,
Sarkeala
,
T.
,
Malila
,
N.
, &
Koskenvuo
,
M.
(
2015
).
Does hair dye use increase the risk of breast cancer? A population-based case-control study of Finnish women
.
PloS one
,
10
(
8
).
58.
Shore
,
R. E.
,
Pasternack
,
B. S.
,
Thiessen
,
E. U.
,
Sadow
,
M.
,
Forbes
,
R.
, &
Albert
,
R. E.
(
1979
).
A case-control study of hair dye use and breast cancer
.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
,
62
(
2
),
277
283
.
59.
Eberle
,
C. E.
,
Sandler
,
D. P.
,
Taylor
,
K. W.
, &
White
,
A. J.
(
2020
).
Hair dye and chemical straightener use and breast cancer risk in a large US population of black and white women
.
International journal of cancer
,
147
(
2
),
383
391
.
60.
Wielsøe
,
M.
,
Kern
,
P.
, &
Bonefeld-Jørgensen
,
E. C.
(
2017
).
Serum levels of environmental pollutants is a risk factor for breast cancer in Inuit: a case control study
.
Environmental Health
,
16
(
1
),
56
.
61.
Koual
,
M.
,
Cano-Sancho
,
G.
,
Bats
,
A. S.
,
Tomkiewicz
,
C.
,
Kaddouch-Amar
,
Y.
,
Douay-Hauser
,
N.
, … &
Le Bizec
,
B.
(
2019
).
Associations between persistent organic pollutants and risk of breast cancer metastasis
.
Environment international
,
132
,
105028
.
62.
N.
Singla
 et al., “
Assessing the Applicability of Photocatalytic-Concrete Blocks in Reducing the Concentration of Ambient NO2of Chandigarh, India, Using Box-Behnken Response Surface Design Technique: A Holistic Sustainable Development Approach
,”
J. Chem.
, vol.
2021
,
2021
, doi: .
63.
A.
Saha
 et al., “
Flood susceptibility assessment using novel ensemble of hyperpipes and support vector regression algorithms
,”
Water (Switzerland)
, vol.
13
, no.
2
,
2021
, doi: .
64.
Hasan
 et al., “
Eco-friendly green synthesis of dextrin based poly (methyl methacrylate) grafted silver nanocomposites and their antibacterial and antibiofilm efficacy against multi-drug resistance pathogens
,”
J. Clean. Prod.
, vol.
230
, pp.
1148
1155
,
2019
, doi: .
65.
A.
Arora
 et al., “
Optimization of state-of-the-art fuzzy-metaheuristic ANFIS-based machine learning models for flood susceptibility prediction mapping in the Middle Ganga Plain, India
,”
Sci. Total Environ.
, vol.
750
,
2021
, doi: .
66.
S.
Hota
and
S.
Pathak
, “
KNN classifier based approach for multi-class sentiment analysis of twitter data
,”
Int. J. Eng. Technol.
, vol.
7
, no.
3
, pp.
1372
1375
,
2018
, [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85071975749&partnerID=40&md5=001658a1f9f079313f0118f165065ef0
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.