The ABC building in the Brisbane suburb of Toowong -- subject of a December 2006 post -- has been officially vacated following an investigation that turned up a cancer cluster among female employees.

Over the past 11 years, 10 women from this one building have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Eight of the women worked in the ABC newsroom, and most had been there for more than five years. The breast cancer risk for these women was six times higher than for the general population of women in the area. And while the investigation continues and clues are beginning to connect, the big question -- Why? -- has still not been answered.

It has been determined it is highly unlikely the increase in breast cancer was caused by exposure to radio frequency, low frequency electromagnetic radiation, or chemical contamination. According to experts, had any of these factors been at play, there would have been a rise in cancer among male employees as well as female employees. Therefore, it appears something specific to women has caused this cluster.

Perhaps clues will emerge from an analysis of lifestyle influences -- like smoking, diet, and alcohol and medication use -- and already women have answered questions pertaining to body weight, height, level of physical activity, and reproductive history.

One common theme among women is the use of oral contraceptives for periods varying from two to 18 years. Other interesting findings include the average number of babies born to the women -- 1.6 -- and the breastfeeding practices of the women -- each woman with a child breastfed for an average of 2.3 to 12 months -- and the educational background of the group -- of the 10 women, six have college degrees.

Experts says these are important factors. Early puberty, late menopause, lack of breastfeeding, use of oral contraceptives, and the trend of older mothers having fewer babies all can influence breast cancer risk. And so can level of education. Research shows increased rates of breast cancer in women with white collar jobs -- which is related to socioeconomic status and late childbearing.

Everything is important really -- because as breast cancer rates continue to skyrocket, all possible reasons need to be considered.

One in eight women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 85. About 13,261 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. And it is predicted that 14,818 will be diagnosed in 2011.

A variation of a virus that infects common household mice might be responsible for one-third of the breast cancer cases occurring in the US, according to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium as reported by WedMD.

The mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), is spread like a cold virus from person to person, although the researchers are not certain if this virus is spread by sneezing or food contamination, or other means of transmission.

Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's Dr. James F. Holland is quoted as saying, "In Asia, the virus plays a very small role in causing the disease. The human breast cancer virus may explain why breast cancer rates differ throughout the world." The house mouse in question is not commonly found in Asia.

For so long, we have been told that the Asian diet pyramid, when compared to the Western diet pyramid, was one of the contributing factors in higher breast cancer cases for US women, and lower breast cancer cases for Asian women. It might well bea contributing factor still, as diet is firmly established as a cause for increasing the risks of all cancers. However, we cannot ignore that the researchers found the common house mouse virus present in the breast cancer tissue samples in 30-40 percent of the women from North America, Europe, and Australia.

That virus plays a role in the development of some cancers is a known, and it brings up interesting questions as to what leads to cancer, and potentially some explanations for the incidence of breast cancer for women who practice what is traditionally considered a healthy lifestyle and have none of the risk factors. Cancer is complex. As time goes on, I believe we are all going to sit back and be surprised at some of the causes for cancer as they are discovered.

Isothiocyanates, chemical compounds found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts and watercress are able to kill cancer cells that have become resistant to chemotherapy drugs, according to the Free Radical Research Group research team from Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago.

Basically, isothiocyanates drive cancer cells, and the protein Bcl-2 that seems to aid cancer cells in surviving, to apoptosis or in more descriptive terms -- a self-destructing suicide. The researchers are hoping this discovery might lead to the development of cancer-fighting drugs derived from isothiocyanates.

In the meantime, as they work on better cancer-fighting drugs based on beneficial chemical compounds found in foods, it won't hurt us to eat more veggies. Okay, except for the current recall of E. coli contaminated spinach. Right now, don't eat your spinach.

While the study suggests that not all cruciferous vegetable are equal in the ability to kill cancer cells, and specifically refers only to broccoli, Brussels sprouts and watercress -- other cruciferous vegetables include arugula, cauliflower, cabbage, Bok Choy, rutabaga, Chinese cabbage, Daikon, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, kale, and turnip, mustard and collard greens.

We have been following the story about a potential cancer cluster that has caused thyroid cancer in teens living within a few miles of each other. The parents have been seeking help and answers to determine if there is an environmental cause. The parent group stated they had approached the state and county and felt they were being ignored in the request to have the water in the area tested. Last week, the city stepped up and offered to investigate.

After the story came out about the Trenton teens, one of the parents said the parent group has been contacted by six other people in the area with thyroid cancer.

In a new development, Cincinnati News 5, who is following this story closely, and investigating information as it becomes available, recently aired an interview with Dr. Peter Rickards of Idaho, who has been investigating other thyroid cancer cases in the Pacific Northwest linked to radioactive fallout from nuclear tests.

According to Dr. Rickards, drinking milk from cows who grazed in dairy fields contaminated with radioactive iodine-131 has been linked to increased cases of thyroid cancer in the Pacific Northwest.

Dr. Rickards suggests the parents and investigators in Trenton look for a fresh source of radioactive iodine in the neighborhood.

Dr. Rickards went on to suggest that they need to take a look at how medical incinerators and cancer clinics have been disposing of iodine-131, perhaps incorrectly, and that might possibly be a source of contamination. He doesn't say this is the definitive cause for the unusual number of young people being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Butler County -- only that it might be a good place to start looking for answers.

You can watch the Cincinnati News 5 news report video Expert: Contaminated Milk Possibly To Blame For Cancer Cases here.

Each year 350 children are diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer. What are the random odds that three teenagers who live within a few miles of each other would be diagnosed with this particular cancer?

Cincinnati News 5 is reporting that the parents of these teens are asking this question and speculating that it might have an environmental cause. The parents wonder -- could a pipeline that runs through town carrying jet fuel have leaked into the ground water -- or is the Edgewood Middle School all three teens attended built on a site that is contaminated?

The parents have no proof, they have no answers and no one seems to want to help them find out what the problem might be that has led to the unusually high concentration of thyroid cancer cases to be diagnosed in one small group of teens living in such close proximity to one another.

According to one of the parents, all they want is to have water samples tested and they feel their requests have been ignored for the last 18 months. Now city officials plan on meeting with the parents next week to discuss their concerns.

It is frustrating to be ignored when you are asking for help to find the cause of circumstances that appear suspicious. It seems rather than let this matter drag out as long as it has, it would have been so much easier for officials to just look into it when it first came up. At least the parents would not have been left to draw their own conclusions.

Erin Brockovich-Ellis traveled to Ithaca to tell local homeowners she thinks they have a strong legal case against Emerson Power Transmission for damages resulting from the plant's contamination of the area with the industrial solvent, trichloroethylene, or TCE, a potentially potent carcinogen. It seeps into groundwater. According to Brockovich-Ellis, "the residents are not dealing with a rinky-dink amount of TCE," and went on to indicate that the TCE numbers are some of the highest she has ever seen. A spokesperson for Emerson is quoted as saying that the company was not aware of any lawsuit and had no comment. They might not have a comment but I seriously doubt they are unaware of the potential lawsuit or the arrival of Brockovich-Ellis.

Neither a lawyer or scientist, she has become legendary for her activism and work regarding environmental issues related to cancer incidence. What made her famous was the curious, relentless, tenacious, and fearlessness of her pursuit in exposing the truth of the incident involving Pacific Gas and Electric who had been knowingly exposing residents groundwater to the cancer-causing agent chromium 6 and the cancer deaths that followed. Like I said, because of who she is and the reputation that precedes her, I have difficulty believing the Emerson spokesperson when he states they are not even aware of the arrival of Brockovich-Ellis and the lawsuit her firm is interested in taking on against the company.

In an earlier post, TCE: groundwater contamination in toxic triangle of cancer, we shared a story about residents in Texas who plant small purple crosses in the front lawns of those who have been diagnosed with cancer. They believe they have been poisoned by the TCE that was dumped at a military base for decades and subsequently spread for miles through a shallow aquifer under the 22,000 nearby homes where they live. 

ConsumerLabs conducts a valuable service in independent product reviews but it will cost you money to read the complete reports. They do release highlighted information, without detailed specifics, and this week they released the results from its new Product Review of Supplements for Cancer Prevention.

Of the 22 supplements containing three popular ingredients -- green tea, lycopene or selenium - that were tested, the results do not look very good for the consumer. The research testers found problems in three out of the four green tea products. According to the abstract of the report, one product contained only 71 percent of its claimed level of EGCG, a key compound in green tea, while two products were found to be contaminated with lead, with 3.3 to 6.8 micrograms per daily serving, far above acceptable limits. Four selenium supplements passed the testing standards, and one failed, as it contained only 38 percent of its claimed ingredient. All five lycopene supplements passed the test.

The brand names of cancer prevention supplements tested were Bluebonnet, Canadian Sun, Country Life, GNC, Food Science of Vermont, Futurebiotics, Herbal Select, Jarrow, KAL, Life Extension, Metabolic Maintenance, Nature's Answer, Nature's Bounty, Pharmanex, Puritan's Pride, Schiff, Vitamin World, and Whole Foods.

However, you will have to pay a fee to find out which products and companies made the grade and which ones bamboozled the buyer out of some bucks. However, without ordering a copy of the report, it is clear that it is a buyer beware market when it comes to cancer prevention supplements. You might be getting a bottle full of empty promise. I would stick to a variety of cancer prevention foods whenever possible for cancer prevention nutrients.

University of California and Chilean researchers study results report children exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water are seven to 12 times more likely to die of lung cancer and other lung diseases in young adulthood. The risk of dying due to bronchiectasis, usually a rare lung disease, is 46 times higher than normal if the child's mother also drank the arsenic-contaminated water while pregnant.

"I sometimes ponder the improbability that drinking water with concentrations of arsenic less than one-thousandth of a gram per liter could do this, and think that I've got to be wrong. But our years of working with arsenic exposure in India and Chile tie in with this study perfectly," states Allan Smith, professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health.

According to the study, arsenic is particularly prevalent in a province in the north of Chile, one of the driest places on earth. In 1958, the cities of Antofagasta and neighboring Mejillones tapped into arsenic-laden rivers to supply their growing populations with water. For the next 13 years, the water supply for all residents in the cities was laced with an average of 860 micrograms per liter of arsenic. In contrast, the standard for arsenic in drinking water in the United States was 50 micrograms per liter, now 10 micrograms per liter. The Chilean cities became a tragic natural experiment for studying the effects of arsenic on humans.

Further information from the study states that, "Putting these results in perspective, studies have found that the rates of early-adult lung cancer among survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki exposed to high levels of radiation before birth or as children are many times lower than those in Antofagasta and Mejillones. Only active smoking itself results in lung cancer rates higher than the seven-fold increase found in his study." It's chilling to consider how global this problem might be. Less than fifteen years ago, elevated concentrations of arsenic were reported in the drinking water in the desert where I lived, right here in the United States. The research will appear in the July issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, and will be made available online. Environmental Health Perspectives has made the 27-page abstract available now, as a PDF document.