In this review, we examine the continually expanding and increasingly compelling data linking radiation and various chemicals in our environment to the current high incidence of breast cancer. Moving forward, attention to methodological limitations, especially in relevant epidemiological and animal models, will need to be addressed to allow clearer and more direct connections to be evaluated. Increasing evidence from epidemiological studies, as well as a better understanding of mechanisms linking toxicants with development of breast cancer, all reinforce the conclusion that exposures to these substances – many of which are found in common, everyday products and byproducts – may lead to increased risk of developing breast cancer. In the 8 years since we last published a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, hundreds of new papers have appeared supporting this link, and in this update, the evidence on this topic is more extensive and of better quality than that previously available. Exposures early in development from gestation through adolescence and early adulthood are particularly of concern as they re-shape the program of genetic, epigenetic and physiological processes in the developing mammary system, leading to an increased risk for developing breast cancer. Singly and in combination, these toxicants may have contributed significantly to the increasing rates of breast cancer observed over the past several decades. Next time you are at the doctor's surgery, however, ask the doctor or practice nurse to show you how to examinie your breasts thoroughly so you can be 'breast aware' in the future.In this review, we examine the continually expanding and increasingly compelling data linking radiation and various chemicals in our environment to the current high incidence of breast cancer.

So stop worrying and remember you are normal. Also your breasts will almost certainly keep on growing for a year or two so you probably will not end up being any smaller than other girls in the long run. The fact that your breasts are tender is typical but very, very normal.

The changes you are noticing are extremely common at 13 because at this age your hormones are changing and your breasts are developing and all this makes breast lumps much more likely. I know you hear and read a lot about breast cancer in our society and that being aware of it is important but at your tender age it is unheard of.Įven at the age of 35 breast cancer is really very rare being much more a disorder of older women aged 55 and over. I do not think for one moment that you have cancer. My breasts have become very painful and they are are also smaller then other girls my age. About a year later I found one in my right one too. I'm 13-years-old, and when I was about 11 I noticed a lump in my left breast.

Breast Cancer at 35 by Amy Burns