CNN
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Nearly 200 chemicals connected to breast cancer are used in the making of food packaging and plastic tableware, and dozens of those carcinogens can migrate into the human body, a new study found.
“There is strong evidence that 76 known or potential breast carcinogens from food contact materials recently purchased all over the world can be found in people,” said study coauthor Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging Forum, a nonprofit foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, that focuses on science communication and research.
“Getting rid of these known or suspected carcinogens in our food supply is a huge opportunity for cancer prevention,” Muncke said.
Of the recently detected chemicals in food packaging, 40 are already classified as hazardous by regulatory agencies around the world, according to the study.
So many of these chemicals have already been classified as human health hazards, yet they are still allowed to be used in food contact materials, thus allowing them to migrate into the food we eat,” said Jenny Kay, a research scientist at Silent Spring Institute, a scientific research organization focused on the link between chemicals, women’s health and breast cancer. She was not involved in the study.
Rates of early-onset breast cancer in women under 50 are increasing, and experts said the trend cannot be explained by genetics alone.
“Rates of colon cancer are also rising in younger people,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, former deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society who was not involved in the study.
