Progress 07/01/03 to 06/30/05
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Progress was made on a pilot intervention using an environmental approach to obesity prevention in a rural community. Results of a needs assessment were presented to a community leadership coalition who identified and ranked candidate interventions based on resources needed, community support, sustainability, effectiveness, and 5) feasibility. The interventions included walking groups and healthy food at community events. Weekly conference calls and face-to-face meetings in the community with community spark plugs and Extension partners facilitated program implementation. Our environmental approach for obesity prevention was disseminated at scientific and professional meetings including the USDA Priester Conference, the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer conference, an Ecology of Obesity conference, regional forums, and nutrition updates for Extension educators. This approach was modified for sharing with community nutrition and health professionals on the BCERF web site. We communicated with scientists and policy makers through a quarterly electronic notification system to about 1100 subscribers and a web cast on Diet, Lifestyle and Breast Cancer Risk. New or revised fact sheets on Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk, Herbal Medicines and Breast Cancer Risk and Vegetables and Fruits and Breast Cancer Risk were posted along with their bibliographies. Five articles were written for the BCERF newsletter (circulation 2,826) on radiation and breast cancer risk, antibiotics and breast cancer, preschool diet and adult risk of breast cancer, and carcinogenesis and acrylamide exposure, and environmental approaches to obesity and breast cancer risk reduction. We consulted for an article in the April 2005 issue of Scientific American (circulation 638,000) on vegetable consumption and cancer. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Rural community members, health and nutrition professionals and educators. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
A pilot intervention using an environmental approach to obesity was developed and implemented in a rural community in collaboration with a community leadership coalition of 30 members representing business, education, health workers, church groups and the general public. Approximately 600 researchers, health professionals, educators, and community leaders were reached through presentations at scientific and community meetings. An average of 36 persons per day visited the BCERF web site homepage; there were an average of 413 fact sheets downloaded per day from the web site. A web cast on Diet, Lifestyle and Breast Cancer Risk on the BCERF web site received 106 visits per month.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
The Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) Program conducted scholarly research and public education on issues linked to cancer risk from diet-lifestyle and chemical exposures. Six new fact sheets were researched and produced during this time: a comparative overview of risk factors associated with diet and lifestyle and breast cancer risk; evidence for associations of herbal medicines with breast cancer risk; a review of new findings on vegetables and fruits and breast cancer risk; ionizing radiation and breast cancer risk, cancer risk of the water contaminant dibromochloropropane, and the mycotoxin ochratoxin-A. Literature reviews on the breast cancer risk of the environmental contaminant dioxin, and on the potential for exposure to pesticides in agricultural families, have been completed and reviews on the endocrine disrupting pesticide beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, and the persistent fungicide hexachlorobenzene have been updated. An interactive web-based
database on the cancer risk of over 100 pesticide active ingredients, linked to over 2,000 pesticide products used on turf, has been developed. A total of 53 fact sheets and related searchable bibliographies for each topic are now posted on BCERFs web site http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/. The BCERF environmental risk factor database was expanded to 9,616 total citations. Three tip sheets for low literacy readers were revised, printed, and posted on the BCERF web site. Review articles and electronic research updates were nationally disseminated to policy makers, scientists, and environmental groups. BCERF faculty advised on three NIH panels on cancer and the environment. BCERF educational activities reached 20,000 nurses, 140 genetic counselors, 6,000 dietitians, 202 extension educators, and 200 scientists and consumers via distance learning, workshops, and targeted mailings. A collaboration with the 10,000-member American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN), aimed at
building the capacity of the membership to reduce breast cancer risk in work settings included: 1) a workshop at the AAOHN national conference, 2) development of two on-line streaming videos for professional development of members, and 3) marketing of the project and the resources on the BCERF web site via a direct mailing to approximately 20,500 members of professional nursing organizations, via the BCERF newsletter, as well as the BCERF e-update e-mail list. The web streamed videos:1) Environmental Chemicals and Breast Cancer, Why is There Concern? and 2) Critical Periods of Susceptibility for Breast Cancer Risk were made available on the BCERF web site. A resource binder of BCERF newsletters, fact sheets, and slide presentations on breast cancer and environmental risk factors has been developed and will be made available to 400 occupational health nurses in the Northeast. Farm families were reached via a farm show (75,000 participants). BCERF staff also conducted needs assessment
outreach with teachers, a high risk group for breast cancer.
Impacts
There were 30,685 page views for the BCERF web site, including 2,584 hits per month on average to the environmental risk factor database. BCERF faculty served as an expert source for cancer prevention articles in Redbook (circ. 3.2 million) and USA Today Weekend (circ. 49 million). Outreach to occupational nurses stimulated 277 hits per month to web-streamed videos. Nurses participating in workshops reported that they increased their ability to understand research on cancer and the environment, identify strategies to reduce cancer risk, and share information with patients and co-workers. There were an additional 1,165 hits per month to nutrition fact sheets following mailing to dietitians. Extension educators participating in workshops reported increased knowledge of cancer risk & capacity to help consumers make informed lifestyle choices, and plans to use cancer risk reduction at work. Formative research with teachers revealed frustration and distrust of cancer
information, critical cancer experiences, and reveled unique opportunities for addressing cancer risk.
Publications
- Clark, H.A. and Snedeker, S. M. 2005 Orchratoxin A; Its cancer risk and potential for exposure, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B: Critical Reviews, accepted for publication.Clark, H.A. and Snedeker, 2005 S. M. Critical Evaluation of the Cancer Risk of Dibromochloropropane (DBCP), Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C-Environmental Carcinogens and Ecotoxicology Reviews, accepted for publication.
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