Long-term exposure to products with DDT ( a compound whose use was already banned by the World Health Organization 45 years ago ) during pregnancy causes the daughters of these women to be four times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who have not. been exposed to this compound. The study was developed by a team of scientists from the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in Oakland, California (USA).
The work, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism , states that both DDT and other similar pesticides interfere with the development of estrogens, causing a breast tumor in most cases.
Although the use of this compound was banned in 1970, its use spread throughout the world and there are still countries in both Africa and Asia that continue to use it for mosquito control and prevention of the spread of malaria. The study was carried out with 20,754 pregnant women who gave birth to 9,300 girls during 1967. The experts followed the health of these girls for 54 years. Among all pregnant women there were 118 women with breast cancer, however, family history was not related to the later results of the study.
The follow-up of these 9,300 women showed that girls whose mothers had DDT in their blood, were shown to be more likely to develop the HER2 protein (Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2), a gene that cancer cells have in the case of breast cancer an abnormal and high number of HER2 genes per cell; an overexpression of the HER2 protein.
That is, the researchers conclude that women who were exposed to DDT during pregnancy are more likely to develop breast cancer. Specifically, the odds, according to the results of the study, were quadrupled .
