Dr. Baccarelli on the Effect of Environmental Factors on Cancer Diagnoses

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, the Leon Hess professor, chair the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, director, the NIH/NIEHS P30 Center for Environmental Health and Justice, discusses the effect of environmental factors on cancer diagnoses.

Environmental factors play a role in up to 90% of human cancer, and the opportunity to remove these causes can lead to cancer prevention, Baccarelli says. Although cancer is accompanied by profound genetic changes, most of these changes are driven by the environment, Baccarelli continues, adding that a specific area of his research is the role of environmental chemicals and their effects on cancer, Baccarelli explains.

Every year, approximately 3000 new chemicals are introduced onto the market in the United States, adding up to 9.5 trillion pounds of chemicals annually, Baccarelli continues. These data emphasize the need to further investigate how chemicals and environmental factors affect cancer in humans, Baccarelli concludes.