Notes: CHE Cancer Working Group, September 21, 2004

Call Participants:

Anita Nager – Beldon Fund
Eleni Sotos - CHE
Jamie Harvie – Institute for a Sustainable Future
Frieda Nixdorf - CHE
Jackie Wilson – Consultant Physician
Jane Langridge – National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
Janice Barlow – Marin Breast Cancer Watch
Barbara Brenner – Breast Cancer Action
Jeanette Swafford - CHE
Michael Lerner - Commonweal
Julie Brody – Silent Spring Institute
Lisa Wanzor – Breast Cancer Action
Lynn Carroll - TEDX
Vincent Garry – Univ. of Minnesota Medical School
Molly Jacobs – Univ. of Mass, Lowell
Nancy Evans – The Breast Cancer Fund
Jeanne Rizzo – The Breast Cancer Fund
Peggy Reynolds – American Cancer Society-CA
Dick Clapp – Boston Univ.
Rob Tufel – National Brain Tumor Foundation
Sharyle Patton – Commonweal
Steve Heilig – San Francisco Medical Society
Terry Nordbrock – Families Against Cancer and Toxins
Anna Dillingham – Trust for America’s Health
Theo Colborn - TEDX
Diana Zuckerman - National Center for Policy Research for Women and Families

State of the Science:

The following Partners are working on key science papers on cancer and the environment:

- Julia Brody, Silent Spring Institute – State of the Science Paper on Breast Cancer for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

- The Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Action – State of the Science: What is the Connection Between the Environment And Breast Cancer. They are completing their 3rd edition. The final hardcopy will be available October 6, 2004.

- Rob Tufel, National Brain Tumor Foundation – NBTF decided last year to make the epidemiology of brain cancer a significant part of the NBTF mission.

- Peggy Reynolds, American Cancer Society, CA – ACS California has collaborated with many CHE Partners on environmental health legislation of shared concern.

- Anna Dillingham, Trust for America’s Health – They examine disease clusters around the country. TFAH is interested in a national protocol for clusters and a national cancer registry. They are interested in linking environmental data with cluster data.

- Terry Nordbrock, Families Against Cancer and Toxins – They are forming a coalition of cancer cluster advocates to support regional efforts, as well as create a national presence.

- Sharyle Patton, Commonweal – Her interest is in the linkages between environmental toxins and disease. She wants to help communities focus on prevention.

- Janice Barlow, Marin Breast Cancer Watch – They work with the Breast Cancer and Environment Research Center which uses a community-based participatory research model. They are also interested in early sexual maturation and biomonitoring, including looking at naturally occurring toxins that are present in our environment.

- Theo Colborn, TEDX – In the last six months science is closing in on gonadal cancers and how prenatal exposures make tissues proliferate and become more susceptible to cancer. Theo’s paper Fetal Origins of Cancer and other Disorders (2003) is being updated and will be available next month. Endocrine disruptor plays a key role in the development of these cancers: Testicular cancer, breast cancer (bisphenol A - paper coming out in October 2004), ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.

- Molly Jacobs, University of Massachusetts, Lowell – She, along with Dick Clapp, and Polly Hoppin, are developing a white paper on state of the science and cancer and are revisiting the scientific assumptions on cancer and the environment, including the Doll and Peto study.

National Work Plan:

We agreed to gather the following from everyone in the group:

1. Please send a description of your organizational work on environmental health and cancer (see below for TEDX’s example). This list will become a resource for everyone.

2. Create a repository of key papers and resources (including websites). They will become available to everyone in the group via the CHE website. Details and passwords will be sent out separately.

3. Create a shared calendar for all cancer and environmental health events.

Please send these items to Jeanette Swafford (info@healthandenvironment.org) by October 15th.

Possible Areas of Shared Interests:

Biomonitoring
Precautionary principle work
Health tracking: including source, pathway, health outcome and GIS mapping
Cancer registry access
Cosmetic legislation
Privacy issues
Standard protocols for investigating cluster communities (Look beyond the one-exposure, one-disease model that is used in cluster work)
Occupational safety and health exposures
The science of communicating environmental risks to the public
Next call December 1, 2004 at 9:00am Pacific/12:00 noon Eastern

Example of Organizational Description:

The goal of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) is to prevent further exposure and harm to humans and wildlife from synthetic chemicals called endocrine disruptors. TEDX provides an educational service that has evolved from a unique collection of technical and policy papers related to these chemicals. For more than a decade this computerized library has been a source of information for scientists, college professors, students, reporters, journalists, writers, policy makers, grass roots and support groups, NGOs, physicians, federal and state agencies, and individuals. TEDX offers its services to the CHE Cancer Working Group as a means of accessing the scientific literature through Current Contents, PubMed, and other databases, as well as our own database of more than 27,000 published articles.

You can reach Dr. Lynn Carroll at tedx@tds.net or Dr. Theo Colborn at colborn@tds.net. Phone/Fax: 970-527-4082.