special reports


Breast Cancer and the Chemical Link Why does Long Island, N.Y. have one of the nation's highest breast cancer rates? A report on the study which helped trigger women's activism and why answers to what's causing the higher rates must await further studies on estrogenic chemicals and breast cancer.


Environmental Chemicals and Human Health - New Links An overview of the growing concerns and continuing debate about man-made chemicals, their effects on wildlife and the wildlife-human connection.

And below, two different views on the state of science concerning the link between endocrine-mimicking chemicals and human cancers and reproductive problems:

  • "The jury is still out. " says Stephen H. Safe and Kavita Ramamoorthy, toxicologists at Texas A & M University in their article titled "Disruptive Behavior: Endocrine Disruptors, Sperm Counts and Breast Cancer"

  • New studies involving extremely low doses of estrogen-mimicking chemicals indicate there's "no safe dose," reports Frederick vom Saal, endocrinologist at the U. of Missouri at Columbia in his article, "Risk Assessment of Endocrine-Mimicking Hormones Using Traditional Experimental Models at High Doses Is Based on Erroneous Assumptions."

  • The Precautionary Approach to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals The 'Precautionary Approach' has become a driving force behind some new legislative mandates for reducing risks from environmental contaminants. It's also fostering new alliances in the scientific community.

    Silent Spring Revisited A summary of the legacy and continuing controversy surrounding Rachel Carson's landmark 1962 book.

     

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