Inside Prevention

Will Your Canned Soup Carry a Warning Label? (Rodale, 4/12/2013)

A Rodale article about California’s declaration that BPA would be added to the state’s list of Prop 65 chemicals quotes our policy manager, Gretchen Lee Salter:

“The Prop 65 listing is yet another indictment of this toxic chemical that industry continues to argue is safe, despite waves of peer-reviewed scientific studies finding that BPA harms reproduction and is linked to breast cancer," says Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund. "And the listing is happening the same week that the French government began warning pregnant women to avoid BPA because fetal exposure has been linked to later-life breast cancer. This is a seriously toxic chemical that none of us should be exposed to." Read the full article here.

Proposition 65 requires the governor of California to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. The law also requires labeling of  products that contain high levels of these chemicals, but because BPA can exert negative effects at extremely low levels, environmental health advocates and state officials are still hashing out acceptable levels for labeling.  For more information on the health effects of BPA, check out our recently updated State of the Evidence on BPA.

Eat like a Mennonite (New York Times, 1/18/2013)

What does it take for a modern American family to lower its BPA levels? Author Florence Williams offers a peek into her stint in the nearly-plastic-free world in an opinion piece for the New York Times:

On the second day of my chemical-detox diet, I was very hungry. I’d been eating like a rabbit, all carrots and greens that I’d gathered, barehanded, from the baskets of the farmer’s market, no gloves or plastic bags allowed. I cooked up some quinoa that I bought packaged in paper from the supermarket sometimes known as Whole Paycheck. I was effectively a vegan because I couldn’t find meat or cheese that wasn’t wrapped in plastic, and I didn’t have access to accommodating livestock.

My 7-year-old daughter and I were participating in a pilot study conducted in 2011 by the Silent Spring Institute and the Breast Cancer Fund (a follow-up study was published later that year in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives). We had urinated into some glass containers a few weeks earlier, back when we were "normal" Americans, and now we were spending three days trying to reduce our exposure to plastics before supplying our urine again.

As Williams notes, the "normal" phase of the study, which allowed for painted toenails and canned beans, was more fun. Yet it's possible to create modern conveniences that don't leave toxic traces in their human consumers.

Says Williams, "It's why we need the government to require testing of commercial chemicals for hormonal effects, and to regulate them in a meaningful way. And it's why we need manufacturers to design products with safer substances in the first place." (Read complete article.)

Prevention Is Power: Why it matters so much

As we wind down our October Prevention Is Power campaign, we're reminded of how important our work to prevent breast cancer is for our community, their loved ones and our collective future. Thank you, Liz, for sharing your powerful story. This blog post was also featured on Care2.com.

By Liz Jones, Guest Blogger

When something big and unexpected happens to you, when you get your socks knocked off and aren’t sure you’ll be able to find them any time soon, when you find yourself overwhelmed in a way you’ve never experienced before, what do you do? Sit still or pace around in circles? Get very quiet or talk to everyone? Pull the covers over your head or develop a game plan? Decide you have enough information or research, research, research?  In 1993 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 48, I did all of the above.
 
Ten years later, after making many changes in my life and saying “yes” to several paths I would never have entertained during my prior-to-breast-cancer life, I was diagnosed with a second primary breast cancer. It was 2003 and I was 58. I was aware I was at risk for developing metastatic breast cancer, but it never entered my mind that my body might develop two unrelated breast cancer tumors. The nerve of it! I mean, after all!

This time around I made decisions more quickly and surely, and I became more convinced than ever that the causes of my two breast cancer tumors were related to my past. I now know I had been inadvertently exposed to carcinogens as a child. I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in Niagara Falls, New York, home to inexpensive hydroelectric power and many chemical manufacturing plants. It was a time when the effects of chemical pollutants on our bodies were not well understood. I remember taking in the chemical smells and looking at the gray clouds of pollutants hanging over the city and telling myself they were my “bread and butter.” Hard to fathom now, but I actually viewed the pollutants positively. Well, now is very different from then, when I had completely bought into the popular marketing line, “Better living through chemistry.” The only downside I remember is our frequently wiping the accumulated layers of soot from our lawn furniture every summer.

The statistics tell us that 1 woman in 8 will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Last month I was in Niagara Falls attending my 50th high school reunion. One evening as I sat around a table with six of my female classmates, the subject turned to breast cancer. We discovered that four of us have had breast cancer. I know this sample is small, but I believe our tally at the table that evening might well be telling us something.

In the fall of 1997 the Breast Cancer Fund entered my life. I began to learn about the effect of under-studied and unregulated chemicals on our bodies and our lives. Now I know that endocrine-disrupting chemicals and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives lurk in the products we use every day. I know that even very low doses of bisphenol A (BPA), found in the lining of food cans, can cause harm to babies and young children. I know that the beauty industry, whose products we slather all over our skin, manufactures products containing substances toxic to humans. I know that biomonitoring (measuring the levels of chemical pollutants in people’s bodies) and health-tracking programs (examining regional disease rates) are critical to larger efforts to reduce chemical exposures linked to disease.

And so I became a fundraiser and strong voice for the Breast Cancer Fund. To spread the word, I ask my community, year after year, to contribute to my hiking effort in the Breast Cancer Fund’s Peak Hike for Prevention. My loyal following of 50 appreciates both learning from me and making a financial contribution to this important work.

I also choose my personal care and household cleaning products carefully, bypassing the advertising and going straight to an examination of their contents. I buy locally grown, pesticide-free produce as much as possible, minimize my use of canned foods, choose wild fish over farmed, and free range chickens over those confined to crowded quarters in too-small cages. I try to “live lightly” on this earth, respecting its land, water, air and living things. And I model my behaviors and choices for my children and grandchildren – my most precious legacy. I see myself as one of the many human faces of people living with the effects of diseases linked to chemical exposure. Do you see yourself this way too?

Two-time breast cancer survivor Liz Jones is a mother of two and grandmother of six who lives in San Jose, California.

Prevention Is Power: Moving beyond breast cancer awareness (blog roundup, 10/2012)

Prevention Is Power! This October blogs have been buzzing about preventing breast cancer, not just putting a pink ribbon on it. Spread the word about our Prevention Is Power campaign, and check out what others are saying:

Glamour, 4 Easy Ways You Can Reduce Your Breast Cancer Risk in Your 20s and 30s

Mommy Greenest, Fight Breast Cancer, Carcinogen-Free. Also reposted at EcoStiletto, Cancer Kick and Yoga Blog. Plus, check out the accompanying video!

AlterNet, Corporations Cashing in Big Time on Breast Cancer -- 5 Shocking Hypocrisies

Living Green Magazine, Prevention is Power: A Better Goal for Breast Cancer

Everything's Abuzz, Breast Cancer Prevention Is Power

MommaWords, Why I’m detoxifying our life

Mommybites, Breast Cancer Awareness: Power in Prevention

Non-Toxic Kids, Protect Women, Prevent Breast Cancer

Celebrate Green, Let’s put focus on ​preventing cancer

Motherhood Moment, Healthy Habits: Prevention is Power

The Life Atlas, Prevention Is Power

Retro Housewife Goes Green, Toxic Chemicals and Pink Ribbons

The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Breast Cancer Fund offers tips for cancer prevention

Watch Jeanne Rizzo in conversation with Deepak Chopra and Seventh Generation CEO

We have really exciting news: On Wednesday, September 19 at 10:30 a.m. EDT/7:30 a.m. PDT, Breast Cancer Fund president and CEO Jeanne Rizzo will join Deepak Chopra and John Replogle, CEO of Seventh Generation, for a panel discussion on the findings of a new study on Americans' concerns about harmful chemicals and what we can do to ensure safer products. The discussion will be moderated by Sara Snow, green-living expert and TV host.

Watch it live right here! The video will continue to be available after the live webcast.

Watch live streaming video from seventhgeneration at livestream.com

FDA one step closer to banning BPA in infant formula packaging

If you've been following the BPA issue closely, then you know that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been dragging its feet for years on regulating the toxic chemical. But this week we saw a glimmer of hope that the agency is poised for action: On June 6 the FDA accepted a petition from Rep. Edward Markey, D - Mass, to ban the use of BPA in infant formula packaging. Within 90 days the agency will file the petition in the Federal Register to allow for public comment and then propose a final rule that will change federal food packaging regulations so that BPA can no longer be used in infant formula packaging. There's also indication that the FDA will accept a similar petition filed by the American Chemistry Council to ban BPA from baby bottles.

There is virtually no U.S. infant formula or baby bottle manufacturer that still uses BPA. Still, an official ban would be significant not only because it would eliminate the possibility of any future use of BPA in infant formula packaging and baby bottles, but also because this would be the first federal restriction on the use of BPA in food packaging.

Assuming the bans are enacted, as it looks likely they will be, parents everywhere will be able to breathe a little easier knowing the infant formula and baby bottles they are buying are not contaminated with BPA. But that’s just the tip of the BPA iceberg, and the FDA still is not doing enough to protect us. The agency rejected petitions filed by Rep. Markey requesting a ban on BPA in baby food packaging, reusable food containers and food cans.

Why the mixed message? Why would the FDA say BPA should not be used in infant formula packaging and baby bottles, but still allow it in other food containers? BPA has been detected in the blood and urine of pregnant women, in the umbilical cord blood of newborns and in breast milk soon after women gave birth. A mountain of troubling lab research has linked BPA exposure to breast cancer and a host of other diseases. The FDA seems to be saying we should get it out of formula and baby bottles, but not out of the other packaging that exposes kids and pregnant women to BPA like baby food and canned foods.

According to Rep. Markey's office, the FDA says it was unable to move forward with the other petitions because it could not verify whether the major manufacturers in those industries that had abandoned the use of BPA represented the entire industry and because some canned food and beverage corporations, including Coca-Cola ConAgra and Pepsico, have openly opposed transition away from use of BPA.

Sorry, WHAT? So, the FDA won’t ban BPA in other food packaging because companies still want to use it and will oppose a ban? And because the agency needs assurance that the industry in question has stopped using BPA before it will tell that industry it can’t use it anymore? It’s a sobering reality to confront: the federal agency responsible for safeguarding our food supply is more concerned with maintaining the status quo than addressing the growing body of scientific evidence that makes it crystal clear that this hormonally active chemical has no place in our food supply.

So, while we’ll welcome a ban on BPA in formula and baby bottles, we won’t stop there. Not for a second. If the FDA won’t act on its own, then Congress needs to step in by quickly and pass Rep. Markey’s Ban Poisonous Additives Act, which would direct the FDA to ban BPA from all food packaging and to overhaul and modernize the outdated federal food packaging program that allowed BPA and other toxic chemicals into our food supply in the first place. Americans deserve nothing less.

Under Pressure from Parents, Advocacy Groups, Campbell's Goes BPA-Free (Forbes, 3/5/12)

On Monday, we shared the news that our Cans Not Cancer campaign scored a huge victory: After months of pressure from our campaign, Campbell's Soup Company announced it will phase out the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in its can linings.

Amy Westervelt''s great story for Forbes, Responding to Consumer Concern, Campbell's Goes BPA-Free, says:

Back in September, the traditionally family-friendly Campbell's Soup brand was attracting attention from moms for all the wrong reasons: A report released by advocacy group Breast Cancer Fund found the company’s soup to have some of the highest BPA levels among a variety of canned foods it tested... BPA (bisphenol A), a commonly used additive in food packaging, mimics human estrogen and is thought by some health advocates to be harmful to health, while others maintain that it is perfectly safe. At the time, Campbell Soup Company spokesman Anthony Sanzio said the company was confident in the safety of its products. ”The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence shows that the use of BPA in can lining poses no threat to human health,” he said. “That being said, we understand that consumers may have concerns about it. We’re very aware of the debate and we’re watching it intently.” (Read the full article.)

The victory was also covered by other news outlets, including:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Campbell's to end use of BPA in can linings

Discovery News: Campbell's to Phase Out BPA

Consumer Affairs: Campbell's Will Phase Out BPA From Soup Cans

Treehugger: Campbell's Says It's Heading BPA-Free

Grist: Campbell's to ditch BPA from soup cans

Campbell's announcement is is a victory for consumer health and safety, but the company still needs to provide consumers with a clear timeline for its transition away from BPA and proof that any alternative can-lining material is safe. Tell Campbell's CEO that you want to see the company’s words turn into real action to make its products safer. Take action!

Campbell's to phase out BPA from canned food

Great news! With your support over the past nine months, our Cans Not Cancer campaign has generated thousands of letters, calls, Facebook posts and Tweets demanding that Campbell Soup Company get toxic BPA out of its canned food. Well, the comany told us that's exactly what it plans to do! But this isn't over: Campbells still needs to provide consumers with a a clear timeline for its transition away from BPA and proof that any alternative can-lining material is safe.

Read our press release and stay tuned for our action alert.

Feinstein thanks the Breast Cancer Fund for BPA work

Last week, after the American Chemistry Council reversed its position on BPA in baby bottles, the Breast Cancer Fund received a very special thank-you letter from Sen. Dianne Feinstein for our hard work in the fight against BPA. In the letter, the Senator says:

Your efforts have paid off; the chemical industry is listening… At both the state and federal level, the chemical industry has spent millions lobbying against any restriction on the use of BPA. You helped lead the way in California, and now the chemical industry has realized that consumers, advocates, and legislators will not stand down against a chemical that could harm their health… My sincere thanks.

We're honored by the Senator's recognition, and we're thankful for her strong leadership in Congress on critical environmental health issues including BPA. Last November, after the chemical industry successfully blocked her amendment to the food safety bill that would have instituted a federal ban on BPA in baby bottles, Sen. Feinstein said so eloquently:

One day our children will look back and wonder why we willingly risked our health by exposing ourselves to harmful chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA)... Unfortunately, chemical industry lobbyists wish to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Just as the tobacco industry once told us it was safe to smoke cigarettes, the chemical industry is trying to tell us it's OK to ingest harmful chemicals. It's not OK.

Thank you, Senator, for using your clear and compelling voice to amplify the message that BPA has no place in our food packaging.

Guest View: The chemicals found in kitchen cans (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 8/4/2011)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has not only introduced federal legislation to ban BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups, formula cans and baby food jars, she's also supporting the Breast Cancer Fund's kick the can month in a new opinion piece published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:

This month, the Breast Cancer Fund is asking consumers who can make a choice or who do have alternative sources of nutrition to join them in their campaign to "kick the can" and stop eating canned foods for the month of July.

This effort will send a big message to canned food industry that we want BPA-free food and safer packaging to replace it. (Read complete article.)

Though our pledge officially ran through the end of July 2011, it's never too late to give it a go and see if you can make it a month without canned foods and the BPA they most often contain.