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July 1998 Forum Summary
Cancer and Environment Forums

On July 9, 1998, the BCERF Ad Hoc Discussion Group meeting was held in White Plains, NY, attended by fifty people. BCERF thanks the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center for the use of their facilities, and Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D, NYS 18th Congressional District) for welcoming participants and introducing this meeting of the Ad Hoc group.

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey. Congresswoman Lowey spoke from the perspective of a policymaker and a woman in Congress. She highlighted accomplishments in the area of breast cancer research over the past several years, and challenges still ahead. The Congresswoman remarked that BCERF's work "is unique in its focus on making information about risk factors available to public health professionals and the general public." She has been able to secure federal funding for BCERF for the past three years, and told the group that she remains committed to continued investment in this work.

Congresswoman Lowey discussed federal government changes in both attitude and actual allocation of dollars, with regard to breast cancer research. Involvement of breast cancer advocates in decisions about how to allocate federal research monies is also an important development at the national policy level. "Advocates," she said, "are adding a fresh perspective to review panels, helping scientists and administrators look at their research portfolios in important new ways." Despite these many accomplishments, Congresswoman Lowey warned that "this is not the time to slow down our efforts."

Director's Report. BCERF Director June Fessenden MacDonald opened by reviewing BCERF's goals and then highlighted progress since the last meeting of the group. Some research highlights include: Critical Evaluations on the pesticides lindane and 2,4-D have been posted on the BCERF web page for a 30-day public comment period, and the Environmental Risk Factors Database now contains over 1,900 entries. June also described progress on the revamping of the BCERF web site (see What¹s New on the Web), and the publication of twelve new fact sheets (see tear sheet). Also on the education front, new BCERF health educator Mary Maley and BCERF Education Project Leader Carol Devine are working on a rural initiative, to bring tailored information on breast cancer risk reduction to women in rural areas of New York State. BCERF public education efforts are encouraged by the results of a recently completed telephone survey which indicated that participants in 1997 training programs are applying the knowledge they gained from these programs in a variety of professional settings.

Farm Women Study. Betsy Lewis-Michl with the NYS Department of Health's Bureau of Environmental & Occupational Epidemiology provided an update on "A Retrospective Cohort Study of Mortality and Cancer Incidence Among New York State Female Farm Residents." Ying Wang, lead investigator on the study, was also present. One objective of this study is to determine if women residing on farms in NYS experience higher cancer incidence rates than the general female population for overall cancer and specific cancer. A similar study has been done of male farmers in NYS. Two years ago, the Ad Hoc group requested that such a study be done of women residing on farms; this study responds to that request.

Betsy discussed the fact that although farmers appear quite healthy in epidemiologic studies done to date and have a lower overall risk of cancer, studies also indicate that farmers may be at excess risk for certain cancers. She noted though, that those few existing studies on female farmers and farm residents found consistently lower incidences of lung and breast cancer. Betsy provided information on the study design (see also The Ribbon, Volume 3, Number 1, for background on epidemiologic study designs), how the data will be analyzed, and the strengths and limitations of this study. Results will be available within six months.

Pesticides in Surface Waters. Patrick Phillips from the US Geological Survey (USGS), Hudson River Basin National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) was next on the agenda. Patrick spoke on "Pesticides in Surface Waters of New York State, 1997." He described the findings from the USGS's 1997 work monitoring pesticides in state waters as required by the NYS Pesticide Reporting Law. Findings include:

 the most commonly detected pesticides were herbicides that are commonly applied to cornfields, including atrazine, metolachlor, and an atrazine degradation compound, deethylatrazine.
 all detected pesticides were at concentrations below federal health advisory or maximum contaminant levels; four insecticides and one herbicide exceeded applicable state criteria at ten sites (out of 64 tested).
 in general, concentrations varied considerably and were related to associated land use.

Patrick also highlighted the group¹s 1998 projects which include Long Island groundwater, a public water survey, and a Cayuga Lake study.

1st Annual Report, Pesticide Use and Sales. Margaret O'Neill of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provided the group with an overview of the first annual pesticide report summary which was due by July 1, 1998. The actual data fills 4,859 pages in twelve separate reports, all of which is available through the DEC or Cornell¹s Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP) world wide web sites (http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/regulation/psur/annualreport1997/index.html). Margaret advised caution against the use of the data to draw specific conclusions about pesticide use in NYS at this time. One reason is From Left to Right: Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, June Fessenden MacDonald, BCERF Director, Stephen P. Johnson, Cornell Office of Government Affairs Director

Health Research Science Board. Patricia Lowney, a Grant Specialist with the NYS Department of Health, reported on funding for breast cancer research in NYS. She began by describing the total amount of funds spent on breast cancer in NYS ($48 million) and then updated the group on the status of the tax check-off monies ($1.1 million) to be awarded for the first time, following the initiation of that program. Following the recent request for proposals, the Health Research Science Board has received 84 proposals, requesting a total of $3.9 million. A three panel merit review process is being implemented, and panels will be composed of 10-12 scientists and 3-4 advocates, all voting members. The group was interested to find out that no proposals were received pertaining to pesticide exposure.

Last Update 08.04.05