Stevens R G, Davis S, Thomas D B, Anderson L E, Wilson B W
Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352.
FASEB J. 1992 Feb 1;6(3):853-60. doi: 10.1096/fasebj.6.3.1740235.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in the industrialized world, and the rates of breast cancer incidence are rising. Although risk is high in industrialized societies, it is low in nonindustrialized areas. The search for the causes of breast cancer has not yet yielded a convincing explanation for the geographic and temporal patterns in the occurrence of breast cancer. Generation of electric power is a hallmark of industrialization, and two products of electric power, light-at-night (LAN) and electromagnetic fields (EMF), may affect breast cancer risk. Exposure to either LAN or EMF can decrease production of melatonin by the pineal gland. Melatonin, in turn, has been shown to suppress mammary tumorigenesis in experimental animals. Moreover, recent epidemiological findings indicate an increased risk of breast cancer in workers occupationally exposed to EMF. On the basis of these considerations, it is proposed that the use of electrical power accounts, in part, for the higher risks of breast cancer in industrialized societies.
在工业化国家，乳腺癌是女性癌症死亡的主要原因，且乳腺癌发病率正在上升。虽然在工业化社会中风险很高，但在非工业化地区则较低。对乳腺癌病因的探寻尚未对乳腺癌发生的地理和时间模式给出令人信服的解释。发电是工业化的一个标志，电力的两种产物，夜间灯光（LAN）和电磁场（EMF），可能会影响乳腺癌风险。暴露于LAN或EMF均可降低松果体褪黑素的分泌。反过来，褪黑素已被证明可抑制实验动物的乳腺肿瘤发生。此外，最近的流行病学研究结果表明，职业暴露于EMF的工人患乳腺癌的风险增加。基于这些考虑，有人提出，电力的使用在一定程度上导致了工业化社会中乳腺癌的较高风险。
