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Welcome Ann and Maria! Dr. June Fessenden MacDonald, Director of BCERF, introduced the newest members of the BCERF staff. Dr. Ann T. Lemley, Professor and Chair of the College of Human Ecology's Department of Textiles and Apparels recently joined the BCERF staff as its Associate Director. Maria Sant'Angelo, Extension Agent with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Nassau County has become BCERF's Extension Educator in Nassau County.
The February 21, 1997 Ad Hoc Discussion group meeting was again well attended. June provided the group with a review of BCERF's activities in research, education and outreach.
She discussed the vital role partnerships play for BCERF. For example, Dr. Carol Devine has recently been interacting with the NYS Department of Health/Bureau of Chronic Disease - Breast Cancer Partnership, Center for Agricultural Medicine & Health (NYCAM), NCI/Cancer Information Service, Buffalo and NYC.
June announced that on September 29 and 30, 1997, Cornell's Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology along with the BCERF program will be holding a symposium on "Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors: The Science that Drives Public Policy". For more information on this symposium, contact: Cindy Wright, ICET, 214 Rice Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-5601; 607-255-8008; e-mail: CLW3@cornell.edu.
Continuing on with the agenda was an update on the Pesticide Use and Sales Registry by Robert Haggerty, Program Specialist, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Bob started off with a brief overview of the law and discussed the process of disseminating information to those who are required to submit reports. Four meetings have been held and he continues to travel across the state to distribute this information. The forms, available electronically and in paper format, have been developed to facilitate the filing of information pursuant to the law. He stated that they expect to get 56 million reports in the structural applicators alone. The next big area for him is in the area of guidance - preparing guidance to educate the public on filling out these forms. An information line has been set up and is receiving approximately 60 calls/day (888-457-0110).
William Smith, Robert Warfield, and Dr. Donald Rutz, all of the Cornell University Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP), reported on some of PMEP's recent and ongoing activities, including the Pesticide Use and Sales Registry software development project and pesticide applicator training. In addition to reviewing PMEP's work with Bob Haggerty on pesticide use reporting, Bill's report included overviews of survey research the group is doing, additions to the PMEP world wide web site, and information and education about the Food Quality Protection Act. Bob reviewed the phases of development of the data entry system for the pesticide use software. Don discussed the curriculum requirements for pesticide applicator certification, and described the manuals that have been developed for training applicators.
Following the lunch break, Dr. Carol Devine, Education Project Leader for BCERF, presented BCERF's 'Intergenerational Approach to Breast Cancer Risk Reduction.' She described how the other work that BCERF is doing provides a context for this educational strategy. She reviewed the evidence for a relationship between several diet and other lifestyle factors and breast cancer risk, explaining what is known about the link of these factors with lifetime estrogen exposure. Carol highlighted areas where intergenerational education has much potential for an impact on breast cancer risk reduction. This approach is described in the lead article of this newsletter.
BCERF Research Project Leader, Dr. Suzanne Snedeker, gave the group an update on "What's New on the BCERF Web Site" and the Environmental Risk Factors Database. She discussed the pesticide Chlordane, an insecticide widely used from 1947 to the 1980's when it was banned. It was used to protect buildings, gardens and lawns from insects and termites. Chlordane was also used as an insecticide on grain, maize and potatoes. This pesticide is of concern because of its persistence (for example, it has been detected in the air of homes fifteen years after use) and high levels of household use (an estimated 52 million people live in Chlordane-treated homes). She discussed with the group this pesticide's relationship to breast cancer. A BCERF critical evaluation and fact sheet on Chlordane are forthcoming.
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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