|
|
|
The attendance at BCERF Ad Hoc Discussion Group meetings is steadily holding at around 40 participants, including those who join us via telephone. The presence at the September 25, 1996 meeting was no different, and we would like to thank the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) for their assistance and use of their conference room for this meeting.
After brief introductions, June Fessenden MacDonald, Director of BCERF, reported on program activities in the areas of research, outreach and public education. On the research front, Suzanne Snedeker, research project leader, is close to completing her critical evaluations of the three triazine pesticides (atrazine, simazine and cyanazine). To expand the number of pesticides under review, a research associate is to be hired. (Editor's note: started November 1, 1996)
BCERF has been particularly busy in the outreach and education areas. There have been numerous contacts and programs with Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations, breast cancer groups in western and central NYS, agricultural groups, federal and state agencies, non-profit groups such as the American Cancer Society, and corporate groups. For example, June Fessenden MacDonald was a featured speaker at a Smith Barney Symposium on Risk Management of Breast Cancer at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center in early September. Also on the program were Senator Alfonse D'Amato, and Congresswomen Nita Lowey and Carolyn Maloney.
Carol Devine, Education Project Leader, spoke in many forums, such as an American Cancer Society-Smith Barney Symposium in Utica in October. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert was another featured speaker at that program. Extension Project Leader Carmi Orenstein's many outreach activities were described.
Also, requests for information and for newsletters and fact sheets continue to increase. As of November 1, BCERF expects to have a full-time administrative coordinator hired, improving the program's ability to respond in a timely manner.
The participants were then given an update by Robert Haggerty of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Bill Smith of Cornell's Pesticide Management Education Program, on the pesticide-use software development. Bob Haggerty discussed the Pesticide Record Keeping and Reporting Requirements Law of 1996. He was followed by Bill Smith who described the software development and budget that has been submitted to NYSDEC. Henry DeVries, electronic technology specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, then mentioned his role providing computer programming support to get the pesticide-use software development project started.
After the lunch break, Suzanne Snedeker spoke on the triazine pesticides and evidence of their relationship to breast cancer. Her presentation included an overview of her critical evaluation on atrazine, noting that there are limited human studies on these pesticides and cancer, and therefore most of the evidence to date is drawn from experimental animal studies. She also informed the group that cyanazine production will be terminated by the end of 1999. Since the Ad Hoc Discussion Group had never been briefed on the process and components of a BCERF critical evaluation, these were also discussed.
Three brief presentations on breast cancer-related Cornell research projects followed. The first speaker, Jerome DeCosse, MD, the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Surgery at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, spoke about his physiological study of the effects of dietary fiber on estrogen metabolism. He described how the results will contribute to the understanding of molecular events leading to carcinogenesis.
Next, Banoo Parpia, Research Associate in the Cornell University Division of Nutritional Sciences, spoke about the Cornell-Oxford-China Nutrition project. She outlined diet, lifestyle and mortality data in China, indicating how cancer is a regional disease in this country. (For more information on this study, visit the web site at http://www.newcenturynutrition.com.
Finally, Rodney Dietert, Director of the Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology and Professor of Immunogenetics in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine ended this series of presentations with a talk on biomarkers in breast cancer research. He discussed the importance of filling research gaps in 'chemical exposure biomarkers,' by seeking to include the best analytical technologies and human chemical analysis in breast cancer studies.
The meeting ended with a discussion on setting future meeting dates and places. The group decided that we would have three statewide meetings annually. The times for the next two meetings are: Friday, February 21, 1997 in Albany, NY followed by one on June 25, 1997 in the Western area of NY.
|
Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine
Vet Box 31, Ithaca, NY 14853-6401
Phone: 607.254.2893; Fax: 607.254.4730
Email: breastcancer@cornell.edu
We subscribe to the HONcode principles. Verify here.