Not My Breasts

BPA raised workers' risk of sexual dysfunction, study says (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Yet another reason to avoid bisphenol A in your own life and advocate for those who don't have the luxury of choosing safer alternatives. Breast cancer is just one of the many tragic risks of this estrogenic chemical.

Chinese factory workers exposed to huge amounts of bisphenol A substantially increased their risk of sexual dysfunction, according to a study released late Tuesday that is expected to add more urgency to the question of the chemical's safety.

Read the article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Nov. 11, 2009).

Consumer Reports defends BPA study against industry attacks

Earlier this week we blogged about Consumer Reports' study that found bisphenol A (BPA) in name-brand canned foods. Not surprisingly, the BPA industry came out swinging, with all kinds of attacks on Consumer Reports' credibility. Really?

Today, the magazine defended its report on its blog, responding to industry attacks point by point.

Enough is enough. It's time to drown out the voices that profit from making and selling this toxic chemical with the voice of reason: there is sufficient evidence of harm to human health to get BPA out of food and beverage containers, period. Write to your Congressional rep if you agree.

New study reveals BPA leaching into name-brand canned foods

On Tuesday, Consumer Reports revealed the results of a new study  testing for the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in name-brand canned foods. While the Breast Cancer Fund has long been concerned that BPA leaches from can linings into foods, the study confirms that almost all of the popular products tested contained the chemical.

Nearly every American has detectable levels of BPA in their bodies, and there is growing evidence that exposure to this synthetic estrogen, even at low levels, can have adverse effects on human health, including increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. BPA is also found in hard, clear plastics, including food storage containers and baby bottles.

The results give new urgency to the call by the Breast Cancer Fund and environmental health groups to ban BPA nationwide from food and beverage containers.

Consumer Reports tested 19 name-brand products, including soups, tuna and green beans, and found that almost all contain levels of BPA. Even products labeled as BPA-free registered a presence of the chemical. 

Ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Ban Poisonous Additive Act.

View the Breast Cancer Fund's press release on the study.

Final weekly roundup: Tips for breast cancer prevention

October has come to an end and so has our tip series for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But, please remember that these helpful, everyday tips can still be found on the Breast Cancer Fund’s blog. We definitely encourage you to revisit these suggestions, written by Dr. Janet Gray, editor of the Breast Cancer Fund’s 2008 and upcoming 2010 State of the Evidence reports, and to look to the Breast Cancer Fund’s Web site and Facebook page for upcoming healthy living ideas.

Here’s a recap of this week’s tips for prevention:

• Avoid exposures to PAHs, whenever possible –- buy low-emission vehicles, maintain your car and avoid unnecessary exposure to tobacco smoke.
• Include soy and other vegetables in your regular diet, but avoid high-dose supplements of soy derivatives.
• Consult with your medical team to minimize your exposures to radiation –- the longest- and best-established environmental cause of breast cancer.
• Keep toys made with phthalates out of your children’s mouths and hands.
• Avoid use of synthetic hormone replacement therapies (HRT), especially progestin-estrogen combinations.

Taking individual actions toward reducing your everyday exposures to toxic chemicals and radiation is a step in the direction of breast cancer prevention, but stopping this disease before it starts also requires greater accountability by corporations and policymakers to protect our health and the health of our environment. Please continue to join us in important legislative initiatives, such as banning BPA from food and beverage containers, expanding the FDA’s authority to make sure cosmetics are safe, and creating a national health-tracking system to connect disease rates and pollution.

Thank you for taking time throughout October to share these tips with your family and friends. Your help has been a crucial piece in expanding the conversation about breast cancer to include prevention.

Rethink Pink NOW! Saner Solutions to Breast Cancer (Huffington Post)

Blogger/writer Helen Cordes posted an excellent piece on the Huffington Post last week, urging readers to reevaluate our mainstream concepts of breast cancer detection and prevention -- mammography, hormone therapy, diet and exercise -- with links to the Breast Cancer Fund's State of the Evidence report and one of our projects, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics:

Re-vision Prevention--And We All Win

*Stop using cancer-causers, and tell everyone why. As the leading breast cancer prevention organization Breast Cancer Fund notes, speaking out about prevention is perhaps most important in October, when breast cancer awareness is high. After all, genetic causes account for only 5 to 10% of breast cancers, and while it's unquestionably beneficial to exercise and eat healthy, fitness is no guarantee of escaping breast cancer, which has steadily risen at the same time as the chemical proliferation of the last 40 years.

Read the whole post on the Huffington Post.

Weekly roundup: Tips for breast cancer prevention

We’ve finished another week of everyday tips to help you reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer. Thank you again to Dr. Gray and The Daily Green for making this possible. You can access all of the October tips on our Not My Breasts blog and find occasional tips throughout the year, as well as the latest news and conversations about prevention, on our Facebook page.

 1. Cook with stainless steel rather than aluminum and be cautious of aluminum-based deodorants.

2. Recycle cadmium batteries and keep any products containing cadmium away from kids.

3. Choose fish carefully, especially when pregnant, to avoid PCBs and dioxins.

4. Be wary of dry cleaning chemicals –- and look for alternatives to dry cleaning whenever possible. 

 5. Use natural sunscreens that don’t come with chemicals of concern.

With one week of October remaining, please continue helping us make prevention part of the conversation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month by joining our Prevention Matters campaign, where you can write a letter to the editor about prevention or send a message to Congress to support public policies that eliminate the environmental causes of the disease. Also, stay tuned for one more week of tips!

Join the million baby crawl

The babies are coming to D.C. Actually, they're virtual babies, and you can send one to Congress, too.

This spin on the traditional petition is organized by the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition (the Breast Cancer Fund is a member) and Seventh Generation. Together, we're hoping to send a message to Congress that American families need better, more protective laws when it comes to deciding whether chemicals are safe or not.

Learn more and join the million baby crawl.

Weekly roundup: Tips for breast cancer prevention

We took Monday off for the holiday, so we have four tips in this week's roundup of breast cancer prevention tips, courtesy Dr. Janet Gray and the Daily Green. If you missed them on Facebook, find them now, right here!

1. Avoid weed killers -- on your lawn, around the house and in kids' play areas.
2. Use natural pesticides. Chemicals meant to kill bugs can harm us, too.
3. Avoid bleach and chlorine, including bleached paper and personal care products.
4. Use safe cosmetics -- and ditch the toxic chemicals in products from shampoo to lotion to lipgloss. 

We'll be back on Facebook Monday to bring you another week of tips you can use to protect your family and yourself from everyday exposures to chemicals linked to breast cancer.

These are small changes, but they're part of a bigger effort to get toxic chemicals out of our environment -- at home, at school, at work and out in the world. Help us make these tips obsolete for future generations: Ask your elected officials in Congress to sign on to our Prevention Platform for big change and better health for everyone.

Weekly roundup: Tips for breast cancer prevention

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Breast Cancer Fund is putting our own spin on the observance by posting a prevention tip each weekday on our Facebook page, courtesy of Dr. Janet Gray and the Daily Green. They're all designed to reduce your family's exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation that increase breast cancer risk.

In case you missed them, we'll be reposting these tips each Friday here on our blog. So, welcome to our first roundup (with a bonus tip from last Friday):

1. Choose a bisphenol A (BPA)-free water or baby bottle.
2. Drink safe water (surprise, it doesn't come in a plastic bottle).
3. Choose truly "microwave-safe" containers -- no plastic containers or plastic wrap.
4. Avoid canned food -- fresh or frozen taste better, anyway.
5. Check your old foam furniture. Old foam mattresses and furniture can contain PBDEs, flame retardants that may be a breast cancer risk factor.
6. Use nontoxic cleaning supplies. Bonus: no terrible chemical smell.

If you sign on as a fan of the Breast Cancer Fund on Facebook, upcoming tips will show up in your feed every day.

Is prevention a priority for you? Ask your elected officials in Washington to make it a national priority, too: Send them our Prevention Platform.

This October, perhaps prevention matters more than anything else

Each October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month creates a space for a conversation around the pervasiveness of breast cancer, and a special emphasis is often put on early detection, improving treatment and finding a cure.

Sadly, we are all too aware of this disease and its devastating impact. Anyone touched by breast cancer – whether you’ve been diagnosed or have supported a family member or friend through their diagnosis – wants to know why and what’s caused it.

As you now know, no more than 1 in 10 women with breast cancer has a genetic history of the disease, and mounting scientific evidence links the high rates to toxic chemicals and radiation exposure in our everyday environment. 

We’re at a turning point in this national conversation. As the link between environmental exposures and disease becomes higher profile, we’re hearing more and more women – and men – making the connection between their diagnosis and possible exposures during critical points in their life.

Most recently, 17 men have come forward about their breast cancer. What’s their connection?  Living on the base of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where the drinking water had been heavily contaminated with benzene; trichloroethylene, an industrial degreaser; and dry cleaning solvent perchloroethylene – chemicals with a link to breast cancer.

At a time when virtually everyone in America has been touched by this disease, perhaps working toward prevention matters more than anything else.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re asking for your help in spreading the word about the environmental causes of breast cancer, empowering those around you to learn more about the disease and make simple changes to reduce their risk, and taking action to call for good public policies that work to stop this disease before it starts.
And, we’ve made it easy to do. In October, you can:

• Spread the word that prevention matters. Sign-up to be a media advocate during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October (or anytime) by writing letters-to-the-editor or submitting comments to news stories or blogs about breast cancer that don’t talk about environmental exposures or primary prevention.

• Read 20 tips for breast cancer prevention, beginning October 1, on the Breast Cancer Fund's Facebook page! Dr. Janet Gray, editor of the Breast Cancer Fund’s 2008 State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment report, will be contributing 20 tips on lowering your risk of breast cancer to the The Daily Green blog. We will be reposting a tip a day throughout the month.

• Urge your legislators throughout October to support public policies that put our health first and make prevention a priority. Visit the Breast Cancer Fund’s Action Center to support our advocacy initiatives that include banning BPA and calling for a national program that provides critical data to connect environmental exposures and diseases.

• Share an e-Card with family and friends. The Breast Cancer Fund and our corporate strategic partner LUNA launched PurePrevention.org in October 2007 to help raise awareness around this important issue. Throughout the site, you can find easy, everyday ways to reduce your risk and to engage your family and friends in prevention by sending a Pure Prevention e-Card. You can also share your story.

A few other opportunities for October:

• Looking for a gift this October? Shop the socially-responsible companies making a commitment to protect our environment and our bodies and supporting the Breast Cancer Fund.

• Create an outdoor challenge in support of the Breast Cancer Fund. On September 27, we held our 14th Peak Hike in Northern California. Over 500 women and men spent a beautiful day hiking for prevention, and for the first time, you can be part of the Peak Hike experience virtually by choosing your own challenge – whether hiking, swimming, running, etc. – and fundraising to support the Breast Cancer Fund.  Invite your family and friends to join you! 

Thank you for helping us make a difference. Your support will elevate the conversation about prevention and work toward stopping this disease before it starts.