Vol. 13 Issue 2, Spring 2008

BCERF is on You Tube: New Videos on Environmental Estrogens in Everyday Products
The Ribbon 

By Suzanne Snedeker, Ph.D., Associate Director for Translational Research, BCERF

On May 19, 2008, BCERF launched three new videos on environmental estrogens on our own website, as well as on the popular video posting site, You Tube. These videos are a part of the “Estrogen Connection” project, which is designed to provide information on ways to reduce exposure to environmental estrogens found in everyday products, and suggests ways to keep these chemicals out of our common environment.

Video topics include: 1) environmental estrogens in cosmetics and personal care products, 2) environmental estrogens in certain plastics, and 3) estrogens that can be released into our environment, including heavy metals like cadmium, nickel and lead found in electronics, and ingredients released from surfactants used in detergents. The videos on the BCERF website also offer fully references articles with more information on each video topic.

Our target audience for these videos is young women, who may be unaware of breast cancer risk factors and that breast cancer can take decades to develop. Young adults, especially those in high school and college, often are adopting lifestyle changes they will carry with them throughout adulthood. However, we are also aware that the mothers and grandmothers of “Generation X” are very interested in these videos, and are telling their daughters and granddaughters about them. And we hope the “Boomer” generation is learning something from watching the videos as well.

While our media and audience are new for this project, our overall message is not new. Over the years, BCERF has consistently provided information on environmental estrogens and their potential to affect breast cancer risk here in The Ribbon, and in fact sheets, BCERF Briefs, and slide shows. Indeed, the central role of the hormone estrogen and how it affects the risk of breast cancer has cut across much of our translational research and educational programming. Many of the environmental risk factors on which we have provided programming are linked to estrogen exposure during different life stages. This includes hormonal therapies, alcohol use, post-menopausal obesity, physical activity, and exposure to a variety of environmental chemicals, including certain pesticides and estrogen mimics in flame retardants.

What is new is that biomonitoring studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recently shown widespread exposure in the US general population to a variety of environmental estrogens. This includes bisphenol A (released from polycarbonate plastics and liners of food cans), nonylphenol (released from certain detergents), benzophenone-3 (UV-screen in cosmetics), and heavy metals (such as lead and cadmium). Until recently, there was little data on population-level exposures for many of these chemicals. (See the articles that accompany the videos on our website for more information and citations.)

Researchers have also been studying mixtures of environmental estrogens over the last 10 years, and have developed predictive models of how they may work together. This has culminated in a model that suggests that, even at very low levels, there can be additive estrogenic effects when a variety of environmental estrogens are present in a mixture (this model is the work of Dr. Andreas Kortenkamp, from the University of London School of Pharmacy). And, there is also evidence from these modeling studies that mixtures of environmental estrogens may work together with the body’s own estrogen. This suggests a new way of thinking about how environmental estrogens may contribute to breast cancer risk.

The Estrogen Connection Videos were a true collaborative effort. We were very fortunate to work with a talented development team directed by Dr. Jodi Korich. Dr. Korich is the director of the Partners in Animal Health Program, which produces videos and outreach programming in our College of Veterinary Medicine. In our college, there is a strong link between human and veterinary medicine, since the common biology of diseases, especially cancer biology, is important in interpreting how factors affect the development of diseases in all species. Dr. Korich was our producer, and with her team of professional filmmakers and animators, the project quickly evolved from the pages of spreadsheets in my original concept document and script, to three polished screenplays, and then to the final videos that use a combination of live-action, animation, and musical soundtracks to enhance our risk prevention messages.

Students played a vital role in this project, including participation in discussion and focus groups that helped us hone the scope and pitch of the videos, and serving as research assistants in assembling the scientific literature used in writing the concept documents and the articles that accompany the videos. We were very fortunate that Cynthia Henderson and her drama students from Ithaca College took on the role of actresses in the videos as a part a class project.

We hope you will view the videos on either the BCERF website or on You Tube. Of course, please tell your daughters and granddaughters, because taking simple steps to avoid environmental estrogens in everyday products is something that you all can start today.

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Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine
Vet Box 31, Ithaca, NY 14853-6401

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