Large new study of phthalate exposure and breast cancer risk

(University of Massachusetts at Amherst) Epidemiologist Katherine Reeves at UMass Amherst is leading the largest study to date investigating a possible relationship between phthalate exposure and breast cancer risk with a three-year, $1.5 million grant from NIEHS. She and colleagues will study phthalate metabolites. Only a handful of small studies have looked at whether phthalates affect human breast cancer risk and none has measured phthalate metabolites before a cancer diagnosis.