Oral

This Session seeks to go beyond the customary explanations for cancer disparities to look for root causes. Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations have a higher burden of cancer, yet this health inequity has not been explained by genetics. Access to health care or “lifestyle” risk factors, such as diet and physical activity, also have fallen short in accounting for all of the disparities in cancer incidence or mortality. Newer and emerging research has identified mechanisms that may play significant roles in the development of cancers that were not previously recognized. How social factors, such as racism and poverty, are biologically embedded is becoming clearer, as is the impact of the timing of those factors and their possible effect on known risk factors, cancer initiation and even tumor type. While longer latency for most cancers and the complex mixtures have hampered efforts to identify environmental compounds that may impact cancer risk, recent work has illuminated the pathways through with chemicals may contribute to cancers.

Session Objectives: 1. Identify differences in environmental and social exposures and their timing that need to be addressed in assessing disparities in cancer morbidity and mortality. 2. Recognize various endocrine disrupting chemicals and the mechanisms through which they are likely to play a role in the development of cancers. 3. Explore how recognizing and proving cancer risks have been hampered due to a longer latency, windows of susceptibility and complex interactions.