More Than 400 Plastic Chemicals Could Be Linked to Breast Cancer

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More than 400 chemicals found in everyday plastic products have potential links to breast cancer, according to a recent review published in Environmental Sciences and Technology Letters by Silent Spring, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to breast cancer research.

A team of researchers from the Silent Spring Institute, including corresponding author Ruthann A. Rudel, compiled a list of 414 chemicals found in plastic. Names were cross referenced with Silent Spring research from January 2024 that identified 920 chemicals that caused mammary tumors in rodents or had specific endocrine disrupting effects, both of which can have implications that lead to human breast cancer.

The present study identified chemicals using data from the PlastChem project, a database of more than 16,000 chemicals used in plastics.

Out of the chemicals identified:

• 98 cause mammary tumors in animal studies
• 188 increase estradiol synthesis levels
• 132 increase the level of progesterone synthesis levels
• 149 activate the estrogen receptor

The types of chemicals identified included benzophenones, chlorinated paraffins and PFAS, otherwise known as “forever chemicals.” Benzophenones, chlorinated paraffins have been used in food packaging and have been known to leach into food. PFAS have been found in the coating of non-stick pans and can transfer to food during cooking.

Breast cancer is on the rise in the United States, particularly in younger women. About 10% of all new breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women under the age of 45, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Early onset breast cancer is also more likely to be hereditary than breast cancer in older women.

The increased interest in plastic toxicity comes after the recent failure of the fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) held from Nov. 25, 2024, to Dec. 1, 2024, in South Korea. The meeting of more than 3,800 participants from more than 200 nations aimed to create the first legally binding UN treaty to address plastic pollution at a global scale but could not come to an agreement. The original proposal would require nations to report their plastic production and import and export data.

“We recognize the multidimensional importance of the UN Treaty to reduce plastic pollution,” Rudel and her colleagues write in the review. “Action on limited-data chemicals as well as those with extensive evidence is vital. We urge regulators, including those participating in the UN conference, to use the integrated data sources and innovative frameworks described here to classify and reduce hazards instead of allowing possible carcinogens to accumulate in our bodies and cause harm.”