About

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American women today. 1 out of every 8 women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime and about 40,000 women annually will die of breast cancer. Risk factors for breast cancer include personal and family health history, genetics, menstrual and reproductive history, race, and lifestyle choices.

Certain things in the environment may change the way a girl’s body develops as she grows, making her more vulnerable to developing breast cancer as an adult. In this context, the environment refers to a range of things, including the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and things we touch and put on our skin. We recognize the relationship between environmental exposures during specific time windows of susceptibility and their impact on the risk of breast cancer and aim to strengthen our understanding of these environmental and genetic risk factors throughout the lifespan. Scientists in the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP), supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are exploring whether exposure to certain chemicals and foods may change how girls’ bodies mature.

The information and educational materials found this website are based on research that comes from the BCERP, and from other studies on environmental exposures, breast cancer, and related topics. The BCERP studies have been exploring parts of the environment that may make a girl more vulnerable to developing breast cancer. “Environment” refers to a range of things, including the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and things we touch and put on our skin. Although we now have a greater understanding of what causes breast cancer and progress is being made, we are still working toward methods to prevent this common disease. Breast cancer continues to be an extremely complex disease, environmental exposures can come from many different sources, and research takes time. There are no absolutes that certain things in a girl’s environment will definitely cause cancer, will definitely prevent cancer, or even that changing something will absolutely reduce her risk of getting cancer.

The Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP) is a group of breast cancer-related scientific studies begun in 2003 that are funded by the National Institute of Environmental Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The BCERP is a transdisciplinary program, meaning that the studies are conducted by teams of laboratory-based scientists, epidemiologists, social scientists, and clinicians with various specialties and from different perspectives. The main research efforts are the Windows of Susceptibility Studies.

While risk factors for breast cancer may occur at any time over the course of a woman’s life, there are certain periods of time during which her body may be particularly sensitive to some of these risks, which scientists refer to as windows of susceptibility. Exposures during these more susceptible times in a woman’s life can influence her chance of developing breast cancer later in life.  One such critical stage is puberty (the time leading up to a girl’s first period, when her breasts are beginning to develop). The BCERP researchers are looking to see if things in the environment – from the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink to what we touch and put on our skin – might affect a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

In addition, the BCERP has an important community outreach component. Researchers in the BCERP studies are collaborating with breast cancer advocates and community members to inform the public and policy makers about the studies’ findings regarding environmental exposures and their relationship to breast cancer risk. Research is also being conducted to determine the best way to inform families about the potential breast cancer risks of specific environmental exposures.

For more information on the BCERP, click here.