According to a university professor, a vaccine for breast cancer may well be within reach if further research is carried out.

A breast cancer vaccine could become a reality in the future according to an Oxford University Professor who has linked the cancer to a lack of hormonal changes experienced during pregnancy and childbirth, as reported in The Guardian.

Professor Valerie Beral, who also leads the Million Women’s Study that examines women’s health, stated that the processes of both childbirth and breastfeeding protected women more than any other preventative measure against breast cancer.

She called for more research to be carried out into the prevention of breast cancer, rather than simply a cure. Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “Why aren’t we thinking of mimicking the effects of childbirth? We don’t know how this happens and nobody is doing research on it. We should be looking at hormone production during late pregnancy and lactation.”

In terms of causes of breast cancer, there have been many claims that drinking water from bottles which have been heated up in, for example, a car, or that using plastic containers to heat food in a microwave could lead to cancer.

Cancer Research UK referred to information from the American Cancer Society (ACS) regarding these claims, which have mostly been communicated within chain emails. The ACS has issued statements in conjunction with other organisations that dismiss these particular ‘causes’ – any substances which may migrate into food from plastic containers are “well within the margin of safety” and that the plastic used to make bottles “cannot reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer”.

For further information about cancer-related health scares or rumours visit the ACS website and for more information about research into the disease, log on to Cancer Research UK.