New Study Links Gas-powered Mowers to Breast Cancer

There it was in black and white. A new study, perhaps the first of its kind, listed potential breast carcinogens, and near the top of the list were chemicals found in exhaust from gas-powered lawn equipment.

The peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that “gasoline and chemicals formed by combustion (e.g., benzene and butadiene) are among the largest sources of mammary carcinogens in the environment,” and that exposure to these chemicals comes from “vehicles, lawn equipment, tobacco smoke, and charred or burned food.”

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Dear friend and breast cancer survivor, Susan, savors a Lake Michigan sunset.

That environmental factors play a large role in causing cancer is not in dispute. In Molecular Biology of the Cell (2002), referenced on the National Institutes of Health website, it is estimated that “80-90% of cancers should be avoidable, or at least postponable,” if certain environmental factors are avoided.

Indeed, the authors of the breast cancer study offer steps women can take to reduce their exposure to cancer-causing chemicals. One such step is to “use electric rather gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and weed whackers.” (Though as pointed out in an earlier post, the pollution avoided is personal only; charging your electric equipment with kilowatts from coal still pollutes.)

To the two key reasons to use Solar Mowing — to reduce air and noise pollution — you can add a third: to protect your breasts and the breasts of the women you love.