Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith, adjunct assistant professors at the University of Windsor, will speak about their research at a May 18 forum in Point Edward offered by Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
Brophy said they looked for groups in Windsor with elevated cancer risks connected to their jobs, expecting to find it in male industrial workers.
"To our surprise, the biggest group we had were women with breast cancer who had a history of farming," Brophy said.
There is limited research on the impact of farming on women's health, Brophy said. Historically, researchers didn't view women as being directly involved in the job of farming and hadn't examined their exposure to risks, he said.
After uncovering a link, Brophy and Keith followed up with another study that interviewed 567 women with breast cancer, and again found an association with farming, he said.
"We also found that if these women began their work in farming, and went on to work in either health care or the auto industry, that their breast cancer risk either stayed the same or increased."Those results led to larger studies that Brophy, former head of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers in Point Edward, and Keith are also involved in, with funding from the foundation hosting the forum.
Brophy said some pesticides and other farm chemicals used in Ontario are either cancer-causing or mimic the hormone estrogen.
Chemicals that mimic estrogen have a very profound effect on people's cancer risk and other health impacts, "if the timing is right," he said.
They found that the women interviewed in their research reported starting to work on the farm when they were children.
"Which is what you'd expect," Brophy said. "You grow up on a farm, you're nine, 10, 11 years old and you're out helping mom and dad."
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter