Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : DDT Linked to Risk of Breast Cancer

Women with the highest exposure to the pesticide DDT had four times the breast cancer risk of women with the least exposure, researchers in New York said. Their study is one of the first to link the insecticide with breast cancer, although DDT has been known for decades to cause cancer in animals. While the findings do not constitute proof that DDT causes breast cancer, they could, if confirmed, provide a possible explanation for a puzzling rise in breast cancer in recent decades in the United States. DDT was phased out in 1972 in the United States, but before 1972, DDT was common in meat and dairy products, and because it is stored in the body for decades most Americans still carry DDT residue, the study said.