In recent years, biomonitoring - tracking and measuring the pollution in our bodies - has revolutionized our thinking about toxic chemicals. Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state health departments, academic researchers and public interest groups have found hundreds of industrial chemicals used to manufacture consumer goods in the blood and urine of Americans, from seniors to fetuses in the womb.
Now, as the United States is poised to undertake a major reform of the outdated and inadequate federal toxics law, it's important that the CDC's biomonitoring programs get the funding they need. Good news: Thanks in part to the Breast Cancer Fund's efforts, the CDC recently entered into cooperative agreements with three state biomonitoring programs
in California, New York and Washington State. Unfortunately, the $5 million in available funding fell far short of the money needed to fund proposals the CDC received from 21 other states. The Breast Cancer Fund and our allies are working to increase federal funding for biomonitoring activities so the CDC can fund more state programs.
We recently sent a letter to key members of Congress urging them to provide more funding. You can also make your voice heard, by
writing to your Representatives and Senators and asking them to increase funding for the biomonitoring program. In a time of tight budgets, we believe strongly that funding research that can help us understand the environmental factors of healthy is a necessary investment.
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