Inside Prevention

Too young for puberty

Kotex has a new line of menstrual pads for tweens—girls 8 to 12—that feature stars, hearts and bright kid colors. But since when has menstruation been typical kid stuff?

The product, U by Kotex Tween Pads, is filling an upsetting need: the falling age of puberty in our daughters. According to a New York Times article last week, "15 percent of American girls begin puberty by age 7."

What's disturbing to us is not the weirdness factor of second-graders toting pads to school along with their art projects, but the connection between early puberty in girls and increased breast cancer risk in adulthood.

Even beyond the consequences of early puberty (of which there are many, social, psychological, health and otherwise), what's causing this trend toward shorter childhoods? We know that some of the chemicals the Breast Cancer Fund has targeted because of their connection to breast cancer are also linked to early puberty; BPA is among them.

A report written by Dr. Sandra Steingraber and published by the Breast Cancer Fund in 2007, The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls, foreshadowed this public health problem the media started talking about it and companies seized it as a marketing opportunity.

What Dr. Steingraber found in her research—and what we see in feminine care products for girls who are likely still playing with dolls—is normalization. In the U.S. in 1999, for example, the age limits for precocious puberty were dropped from 8 years to 7 (for white girls) and 6 (for black girls). Younger was now "normal" again.

For the 8-year-old who has to navigate the elementary school bathroom while on her period, normalization and support is appropriate. But on a societal scale we owe our kids an examination of why the age of puberty has fallen—and what we can do to reverse the trend and improve their lifelong health.

How to reduce BPA exposure from food (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/17/2011)

A useful article in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle gives practical tips for reducing BPA exposure in the kitchen (many of which echo our own) and talks about the study of BPA in food packaging that we co-released just a few weeks ago:

Reading about the study in The Chronicle prompted Gary Kelly of Orinda to consider ridding his kitchen of plastic containers.

"I never microwave in plastic, and now, I think, perhaps the next step is to get rid of plastics," says Kelly. He says his only doubt about switching to glass containers is whether they will break or take up too much storage space.

BPA is also found in the epoxy resins used to line metal food cans. In 2009, Consumer Reports tested 19 name-brand canned foods and found almost all contained some level of BPA. The levels varied wildly, with the highest found in canned green beans and soup. It didn't matter whether the food was certified organic or not. (Read complete article.)

New bill will overhaul federal chemical policy

Aren't you tired of having to worry about which products in your home are safe and which ones may contain toxic chemicals? So are we. That's why we're thrilled to support legislation introduced today by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 would require chemical makers to prove their chemicals are safe before they are allowed in our homes, schools and workplaces.

Check out Sen. Lautenberg's video, in which he lists the Breast Cancer Fund as a supporter of the bill.

Then ask your Senators to co-sponsor this important piece of legislation.

I'll take a hearty helping of food, but please hold the toxic BPA

Just when I thought I had gotten ahead in the game by dumping all of the hard plastic BPA water bottles and food storage containers from my house, the Breast Cancer Fund released a study last week showing that when families took BPA out of their diets by eliminating canned foods and using BPA-free food containers, they decreased the amount of BPA in their bodies by 60 percent!

Canned foods make up a significant portion of the American diet, yet most people don't know that most of those cans—and the foods in them—contain the estrogenic chemical BPA. So apparently when I open that can of beans or soup, I'm also giving myself a hearty dose of a toxic chemical? How was I to know? Unless my alphabet soup spells out "BPA" in the bowl, there's no clear indication for shoppers if a can contains BPA or not.

Asking consumers to completely dump the canned foods from their diet is a lofty goal that's unrealistic for many. Canned foods are cheap and sometimes, in communities where fresh fruits and vegetables aren’t easily accessible or affordable, the only option for people.

I'm lucky enough to be able to choose BPA-free, but I'm also tired of being asked to shop my way out of this massive problem of toxins in my products. Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of corporations to make products that are safe for their customers?

I think so and that’s why I joined thousands of others in taking action to ask the three largest canned food companies, Cambell Soup Company, Del Monte Foods and General Mills (maker of Progresso, Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen) what they're doing to get BPA out of their food packaging and out of our bodies. And if they're phasing out BPA, what non-toxic alternative are they replacing it with?

As consumers we have to be confident that the alternatives these companies are using to BPA are adequately tested for safety. Haven’t we already learned our lesson enough times about regrettable substitutions? It’s time for consumers to demand that we have a right to know what is in our food. Just like the calories, fat and sugar content of my food, I want to know if there are toxic chemicals lurking in each bite.

Let's make the message loud and clear to these companies: please hold the toxic BPA.

Girls hit puberty earlier than ever, and doctors aren't sure why (USA Today, 4/11/2011)

Because of the link between early puberty in girls and increased breast cancer risk later in life, the Breast Cancer Fund commissioned a report from author, epidemiologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber. Four years after its publication, families, doctors and researchers are still grappling with the causes and impacts of early puberty. USA Today reporter Liz Szabo covers this important topic on today's front page:

Claudia and Joe's baby girl has been racing to grow up, almost from the moment she was born. Laila sat up on her own at 5 months old and began talking at 7 months and walking by 8½ months.

...

Even so, Laila's parents never expected their baby to hit puberty at age 6. (Read complete article.)

The article is part of a weeklong series called Saving Childhood.

BPA food packaging study media roundup (3/30/2011-4/4/2011)

Our study on BPA in food packaging, co-released last week, has generated more 120 TV news stories across the country, as well as scores of print, online and radio stories. Not surprising, considering the dramatic results: participants cut their BPA levels by 60 percent in just three days by avoiding canned and packaged food.

Here are some highlights of the media coverage:

ABC Chicago
ABC Houston
ABC News National
Arizona Central
Bellingham Herald
Burlington Free Press
Chemical Watch
CTV
CBS San Francisco
Chicago Sun-Times
Consumer Reports
Daily Green
Discovery Magazine
Fair Warning
Fast Company
French Tribune
GreenDesignHQ
Greenbiz
Huffington Post
KGO AM
Lexington Herald Leader
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times Editorial
Medical News Today
Miami New Times
Mother Earth News
Mother Nature Network
Philadelphia Inquirer
Press Herald
Quality Assurance & Food Safety
Red Orbit
San Francisco Chronicle
Smart Planet
Technorati
Time Magazine
TreeHugger
UPI
USA Today
WCVB
WebMD

California legislature must pass bisphenol A bill (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/1/2011)

The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle has been following the issue of BPA in California for some time, and today they fit our new study into the state's legislative puzzle:

The disgrace of the California Legislature's failure to protect infants and toddlers from a hormone-disrupting chemical was brought into sharp relief with a new study that showed the extent to which its use as a food container reaches the human system.

...

Those findings take on one of the chemical and can-manufacturing industries' arguments against legislation to ban the chemical from baby bottles, formula-can liners and other products aimed at children under 3. Those companies lobbied furiously last year to kill SB797, arguing that both the levels of exposure and danger from it were minuscule. (Read complete article)