Common jobs held by immigrant women may put them at increased risk of breast cancer

Study sheds light on chemical hazards in U.S. workplaces and overlooked risks for female workers. 

Many immigrant women in the U.S. work in jobs that may expose them to chemicals linked to breast cancer, according to a new study led by Silent Spring Institute. The study is among the first to examine how job-related chemical exposures may contribute to breast cancer risk among foreign-born workers, especially in jobs with fewer health and safety protections.

Published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, the findings could help inform policies to reduce harmful exposures for women workers, while also deepening understanding of how certain occupations put women at increased risk of breast cancer. 

“Most occupational health research has focused on men, leaving a significant knowledge gap in what we know about the risks for women, especially immigrant women,” says lead author Dr. Kristin Knox, a research scientist at Silent Spring. “We wanted to explore whether the types of jobs immigrant women hold could help explain why some groups experience higher breast cancer rates after moving to the U.S.”

Silent Spring researchers and their colleagues at University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco, analyzed U.S. Census data to identify the most common occupations held by immigrant women. They then matched those jobs with data from the Women’s Occupations and Risk from Chemicals Project, which tracks occupations in California involving exposure to chemicals relevant to breast cancer. 

Key findings:

• The most common jobs held by immigrant women include house cleaners, nurses, cashiers, janitors, and care aides.
• Among those jobs, house cleaners and nurses face the highest potential chemical exposures.
• Common chemicals include fragrances, cleaning agents, pesticides, phthalates, antimicrobials, and alkylphenols, many of which are endocrine disruptors that interfere with hormones in ways that could lead to breast cancer.

“Immigrant women are overrepresented in many of the jobs we identified as high-risk,” says Knox. “This means they are not only more likely to be exposed to hazardous substances, but also more likely to experience long-term health consequences tied to their work.”

The research team also found disparities based on language and education. Immigrant women with higher levels of education and stronger English skills were more likely to work in lower-exposure jobs, such as accountants, customer service representatives, and software developers. Those with less education and limited English were more often employed in high-exposure occupations. 

“Immigrant women face unique barriers to avoiding toxic exposures at work—including language barriers, and fear of speaking out due to undocumented status or job insecurity,” says co-author Erin Carerra, a registered nurse at UCSF. “It’s important to understand the health risks they face so we can ensure all workers, regardless of background, are protected from harmful chemicals that could make them sick.”

The study is the first phase of a broader initiative. Next, the researchers will be collecting exposure measurements from women in these high-risk occupations. Participants will wear silicone wristbands that track chemicals in the air, provide urine samples for chemical analysis, and participate in interviews to share their experiences with workplace hazards and understand their challenges.

Knox and her team hope the project will lead to stronger workplace protections. For instance, hospitals could change practices to reduce exposures to harsh disinfectants and harmful materials. Domestic workers and their employers could benefit from information on safer products and how to access non-toxic alternatives.

This project is funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program (Grant #10941) and charitable contributions to Silent Spring Institute.