Inside Prevention

Another Mountain to face

In the summer of 2000, Margit Esser-Porter travelled to Japan with our Climb Against the Odds Mt Fuji team. Undaunted by altitude sickness she reached the summit of the 10,000 foot peak, and as she mentioned in her email to me, she has the tea towel she bought at the summit to prove it! She trained again for Mt Shasta 2003. That same year, our founder  Andrea Martin was dying of cancer and could not join the team.  As Margit  headed for Shasta,  sent Andrea  a beautiful handmade talisman made of glass for fragility and jade for strength.  Andrea in turn sent that talisman up the mountain with a dear friend, climber Ellen Kahn who in turn passed it on .. and on.. until it reached the summit.  It has become a ritual on all BCF mountain climbs for  Margit's talisman to reach as high as it can each time we climb, Margit's personal summit has been in the journey - not the top of the mountain. All these years, she has been a Strong Voice for the Breast Cancer Fund.  Now, Margit needs our love and prayers - she is facing another diagnsosis of breast cancer. She is strong and she knows that it will take one step at a time, roped in to her team, with love and support around her, carrying her tea towel wrapped to her chest as a reminder of the journey. I ask you to join me in sending Margit and the 40,000 + women who will hear they have breast cancer this year our well wishes.   We'll dedicate a prayer flag to Margit and one of our climbers will carry her flag on Mt Shasta in June and another will carry her talisman.  The Tibean prayer flag program at BCF is a powerful way to honor and remember.   Margit is why we do this work and while our hearts break to hear this news, we are stronger than ever in our commitment to reduce exposures to toxic chemicals and radiation that are conributing to this epidemic.   Keep climbing with love,

Jeanne Rizzo

Executive Director

Baby's Toxic Bottle

The Breast Cancer Fund joined a broad coalition of U.S. and Canadian public health and environmental organizations today in calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and food and beverage containers.  A new study commissioned by the coalition found six major brands of popular baby bottles sold in the United States and Canada leach BPA, a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to breast cancer and other health concerns.   

Baby’s Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Brands of Baby Bottles tested Avent, Disney/The First Years, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex baby bottles, purchased in nine states at major retail stores, and found that when the new bottles were heated they leached BPA at 4.7-8.3 parts per billion, levels shown in recent animal studies to disrupt development. 

This study further demonstrates the pervasiveness of BPA and follows a congressional investigation into the use of BPA by seven major baby product manufacturers in the lining of metal cans for infant formula.
 
“It’s outrageous that manufacturers of some baby bottles are exposing little girls to BPA, a synthetic plasticizer that mimics estrogen, and possibly increasing that little girl’s risk of breast cancer later in life, especially when safe alternatives are available,” said Janet Nudelman, Director of Program and Policy for the Breast Cancer Fund.
 
Sign a petition now demanding manufacturers remove BPA from baby bottles!

To minimize your child’s exposure to BPA:
• Use glass or polypropylene bottles (#5 plastic) instead of polycarbonate (#7 plastic – hard, shiny, clear) bottles;
• Avoid heating polycarbonate containers.  Use glass or ceramic containers in the microwave and for hot foods.
• Cut back on consumption of canned foods and beverages to reduce exposure to BPA contamination.  Also, avoid canned foods with higher fat content, including infant formulas, which may have higher levels of BPA.

What Goes On Baby Goes In Baby, Too

On Monday, the respected medical journal Pediatrics published a study that could (should) change the way parents use and think about the lotions, powders and shampoos they rub on their babies.

The study showed a correlation between exposure to these typical personal care products and the levels of phthalates in the babies' urine. In other words, the babies who got the most lotion, powder and shampoo on their skin also had the highest levels of these toxic chemicals in their little bodies.

Phthalates, unfortunately for us and our kids, are not harmless. They've been linked to breast cancer, early puberty in girls, reduced testosterone levels, lowered sperm counts, genital defects in baby boys and testicular cancer.

Phthalates are often hidden in the ingredient "fragrance" because a loophole in U.S. law allows manufacturers to avoid disclosing the components of fragrance or perfume in products. The chemicals are also used to keep plastics soft and pliable--for use in products like baby toys and teethers, among other plastics.

In fact, phthalate exposure among kids is of such high concern that California recently banned them from toys intended for children 3 and younger (this bill was co-sponsored by the Breast Cancer Fund and Environment California in 2007), Congress has introduced a similar bill (the Children's Chemical Risk Reduction Act of 2007) and the state of Washington is considering a broader ban that would include phthalates, lead and cadmium in toys as well as personal care products for kids 12 and under.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, of which the Breast Cancer Fund is a part, expressed concern for both babies and women of childbearing age--baby's first environment. But this groundbreaking study proves what we already knew: what goes on our skin goes in our bodies. With that in mind, it's time we closed the loopholes on cosmetic safety in the U.S.