Too few resources are put into exploring environmental causes of breast cancer, including the impact of work, and too little emphasis is placed on primary prevention, a review has concluded. US researchers concluded “the environment is an underutilized pathway to breast cancer prevention. Current research approaches and funding streams related to breast cancer and the environment are unequal to the task at hand.” The four-year California Breast Cancer Prevention Initiatives was undertaken to set a research agenda related to breast cancer, the environment, disparities and prevention. “We identified 20 topics for Concept Proposals reflecting a life-course approach and the complex etiology of breast cancer; considering the environment as chemical, physical and socially constructed exposures that are experienced concurrently: at home, in the community and at work; and addressing how we should be modifying the world around us to promote a less carcinogenic environment.” The 20 Concept Proposals approved by the California Breast Cancer Research Program’s council included assessing occupational exposures to chemicals and breast cancer risks in California and building a public health case for primary prevention of breast cancer.

P Sutton and others. California Breast Cancer Prevention Initiatives: Setting a research agenda for prevention, Reproductive Toxicology, published online 30 September 2014. doi:10.1016/j.reprotox.2014.09.008