Høyer, AP, T Jørgensen, JW Brock and P Grandjean 2000. Organochlorine exposure and breast cancer survival. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 53:323-330.

Building on their first paper (below), Høyer et al. show that women, once afflicted by breast cancer, don’t live as long if they have relatively high levels of dieldrin in their blood. "Dieldrin had a significant adverse effect on overall survival and breast cancer specific survival... These findings suggest that past exposure to estrogenic organochlorines such as dieldrin may not only affect the risk of developing breast cancer but also the survival.

After diagnosis for breast cancer, women with highest dieldrin levels survive the shortest time, on average. "A high serum dieldrin concentration was consistently related to a subsequent poorer survival. ... It is therefore also possible that exposure to organochlorines somehow induces the aggressiveness of the tumor."

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