Inside Prevention

Values. Trust. Power. Rizzo reflects on Komen controversy

Our president and CEO Jeanne Rizzo shares with the Breast Cancer Fund community her reflections on the controversy unleashed on Tuesday when Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced it would end its funding of Planned Parenthood's breast-health programs. Your comments are welcome!

Over the last few days, we’ve all watched as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure story broke and exploded. It has consumed my attention and dominated my conversations, as perhaps it has yours too.

I was disappointed by Komen's decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood's breast-health services, as I am whenever women's health and wellness programs are cut. I was concerned about the implications for the breast-cancer-prevention initiatives that Planned Parenthood and the Breast Cancer Fund partner on. My heart went out to the women who rely on Planned Parenthood's breast-health services, to the frustrated Komen supporters, and to those who unleashed their outrage online and in conversations everywhere. And I’m heartened that the outpouring of support for Planned Parenthood's breast-health services is forcing Komen to reconsider its decision.

As the president of the Breast Cancer Fund, this incident has made me think deeply about those who support our work and what they expect from us in return. I believe you expect us to have clear and unwavering values that guide all of our decision-making. I believe you need to trust us to hold true to these values, to be good stewards of your support and to do the most effective work we can to prevent breast cancer. And I believe that you need to have power—you need to know that your voice counts and that you can meaningfully contribute to stopping this disease before it starts.

Values. Trust. Power.

The Breast Cancer Fund’s values are clear and unwavering. We value working for a world in which we live without fear of losing our breasts or our lives as a result of what we’ve eaten, touched or breathed. That’s why we are single-focused in our work to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer.

The Breast Cancer Fund works every day to earn your trust. Our work stays true to our mission. We use every dollar donated responsibly. And we value you, our supporters, and invite you to engage with and help shape our work through our events, online communities, volunteer opportunities and more.

The Breast Cancer Fund is committed to giving you the power to prevent breast cancer. In fact, our work is fueled by your power. With your power, we’re making sure that everyone has access to the tools they need to help reduce their risk and protect their families. With your power, we're convincing elected officials and corporations to protect our health and reduce breast cancer risk. With your power, we’re leading the breast cancer movement to move beyond awareness to prevention.

The Breast Cancer Fund is an organization you can count on.

If you know people who are looking for a breast cancer organization they can count on too, please introduce your family, friends and networks to the Breast Cancer Fund. They can visit our website and sign up to receive our emails, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

And if you're looking for a way to show your continued support for our work, please make a donation today.

Warm Regards,
Jeanne Rizzo, R.N.
President and CEO

Five Things You Should Know About Environmental Links to Breast Cancer (Forbes, 12/7/2011)

Amy Westervelt's article on Forbes.com does a great job of parsing through the intricacies of the Institute of Medicine's new report, Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach. Here's an excerpt, including a quote from our president and CEO, Jeanne Rizzo:

In the absence of clear advice from the IOM, consumers might want to consider reducing their exposure to these chemicals. “The failure to take a precautionary approach may leave the public confused and even misinformed, as is evidenced by some of the initial media headlines about the report that say that chemicals are unproven to raise breast cancer risk, when the report itself indicated there are plausible reasons for concern,” Rizzo says.

Read the full article and share it with your networks or submit a comment.

Prevention Is Power: A different road

We've known Ann Maechtlen since 2008, the first time she signed up for Climb Against the Odds. She's one of those people who immediately, intuitively understands the Breast Cancer Fund's environmental perspective on the disease, largely because of her own cancer diagnoses. Recently interviewed by the Sacramento Bee for an article about the proliferation of pink during October, Ann shares with us here her own perspective on prevention:

Greetings from Missoula, Montana! The fall colors are beautiful and the air is crisp. I get a little sad this time every year as I say goodbye to long warm days full of friends and fun adventures outdoors and spend more time indoors with shorter colder days. My sadness lifts when the snow starts falling and I can go nordic skiing or snowshoeing.

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, also the anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis (five years) and 29 1/2 years since my Hodgkin's diagnosis. At age 22 I had cancer—back when I didn't know anyone who had ever had cancer!

Hodgkin's was a very scary disease for me, and people were afraid it was contagious. In 1982 there was no Internet, no support groups and no cancer groups waiting to help, so I was on my own. The public library was my new best friend. The first book I picked up was called, “First You Cry”—how true!

I had a doctor who believed my cancer was caused by exposure to chemicals on my family’s ranch in Southern California. That doctor planted that seed, which took many years to germinate. I found myself reading labels more and avoiding products with ingredients I couldn’t pronounce in my quest for good health.

I also noticed more and more chemicals in cosmetics and cleaners and in trying to avoid them I have found it easier to make my own.

After my breast cancer diagnosis I realized I needed to make big changes to really get healthy and get past cancer. I quit drinking alcohol, changed some other habits and did a lot of emotional healing. After completing nine months of chemotherapy I was really happy just to be alive, and I needed to celebrate!

Then the Breast Cancer Fund came into my life and I learned about the Climb Against the Odds. I knew I had to climb the mountain! I climbed Mt. Shasta in 2008, nine months after I finished chemo. I climbed again this year, thinking maybe it would be easier. No, it was still hard!

I was—and still am—thrilled that the Breast Cancer Fund is looking at prevention rather than finding a cure. Cancer has become big business…too big. I have seen enough lives torn apart and cut short from this disease; I want to see it disappear, at least back to the levels found before the 1980s.

I would like to empower people with real information and real choices in their lives to stay healthy. I see cancer groups working to support cancer patients, which is good, but how about going down a different road of no cancer?

Breast cancer awareness should be a year-round event (Huffington Post, 10/27/2011)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) champions breast cancer prevention and elimination of the environmental causes of this disease in a piece for the Huffington Post. In it she mentions some of our proudest achievements, including our State of the Evidence report on environmental exposures linked to breast cancer, as well as a ban on phthalates in children's toys that Sen. Feinstein authored and we supported through its passage in 2008.

Mounting scientific evidence links exposure to everyday chemicals -- in our food, our products, our air and our water -- to breast cancer. The President's Cancer Panel released a report in 2010 that highlighted how little we know about environmental links to cancer and the need for more research.

I could not agree more with the report's recommendation that "a precautionary, prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants."

Similarly, the Breast Cancer Fund's 2010 report, the State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment, linked breast cancer to synthetic hormones in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and meat, pesticides in food, solvents in household cleaning products; bisphenol A (BPA) in food containers and flame retardants in furniture, to name a few.

In our daily lives, we can take steps to reduce exposure to some chemicals, such as buying BPA-free products. But we need more than personal action; we need policies that ensure the public is protected. And we need to understand the chemicals we interact with every day and what they are doing to our bodies. (Read complete article.)

Thank you, Sen. Feinstein, for standing up for environmental health. Human health depends on it.

Prevention Is Power: A new path

Breast cancer survivor Betsy Ogden climbed Mt. Shasta with the Breast Cancer Fund's Climb Against the Odds 2011 team, and in doing so found a journey of her own choosing post-cancer. Read her reflections on cancer, mountains and prevention in today's blog, part of our October Prevention Is Power campaign. Thank you, Betsy!

Knowledge. Power. Strength. Change. This is what prevention means to me.

On a September Sunday in 2009, I completed my first-ever solo summit of Mt. Moosilauke, one of New Hampshire’s 48 4,000-foot mountains. It was a beautiful, crisp fall day and I felt strong and proud, and excited about my new-found love of hiking.

Three days later, following a routine mammogram, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was a strong, healthy, active physical therapist and Pilates practitioner and had no family history of the disease.

And so began what I now call my “forced march,” a journey not of my choosing, into the world of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and remission.

Over the next few months I often felt powerless, sometimes frightened. My choices in life revolved around treatment options, recurrence rates and outcome statistics. My business struggled as the fatigue of treatment took its toll. Finally treatment ended and I became a survivor, and started to figure out my new life, co-existing with the reality of cancer ever-present.

Through all of this I came to understand that my cancer’s origin was likely somewhere in the environment. And on a very personal level, I knew that I needed and wanted to do something to reclaim my life’s journey, the journey cancer had hijacked.

I needed a mountain to climb, literally, and in October 2010 I joined the Breast Cancer Fund’s Climb Against the Odds 2011 team. As I look back, I see how much personal strength I drew from the months of fundraising and training for the climb. I pushed myself to physical limits and raised thousands of dollars from supporters. Each step along the way, I was encouraged by the amazing staff of the Breast Cancer Fund.

And finally, I climbed Mt. Shasta in June 2011 along with 33 other survivors and supporters. I did not reclaim my life’s journey on Shasta. Rather, I started on a whole new path, where powerlessness and fear in the face of the disease have no place.

The Breast Cancer Fund has shown me that we can and must face the disease head-on. We work so that others never have to feel the powerlessness of diagnosis, the fear of treatment and the uncertainty of the future.

I believe that prevention is the only acceptable future for breast cancer. Using solid scientific inquiry to identify environmental causes of the disease, we have knowledge. And with that knowledge and the leadership of the Breast Cancer Fund, we have the power and strength to change the course of this disease. We will and must educate and advocate so that young women, women of color, all of us at risk of environmental exposure will not have to fear what we do not know or understand.
 
I have climbed mountains since the Breast Cancer Fund's Climb Against the Odds 2011, and I hope to climb many more. I take every opportunity I can to speak of the good work of the organization and I try to make my own small world safer and less toxic for my loved ones and me.

Each of us must do what we can, where we can. And, in the end, that will be enough. And I know that someday, in the not too distant future, our children and grandchildren will live in a world where breast cancer is, very simply, prevented. 

Prevention Is Power: Through treatment, up mountains and toward a healthy future

Shiera Brady Henderson climbed Mt. Shasta this June with the Breast Cancer Fund's 2011 Climb Against the Odds team. Shiera faced the mountain with immense strength, and today, as part of our October Prevention Is Power campaign, we're happy to share with you her reflections on the power of prevention:

The feeling of ultimate power swept over me as I took the final step to reach the 14,000-foot summit of Mt. Shasta. The thin air and grueling climb that began at 2 a.m. makes breathing difficult. Yet, as I stand roped together with my four fellow climbers on top of the world, I exhale with great pride and gratitude. On this 10th anniversary of being a breast cancer survivor, I celebrate not just a milestone, but also the return of once again being in charge of my life. 

That sense of power drains from your body when you are diagnosed with breast cancer—malignant cells destroying not only your breast tissue but also your confidence and self-esteem buried deep inside your heart. How does a 39-year-old healthy mom with no family history get breast cancer? What did I do wrong? Am I going to die?

I was diagnosed with aggressive invasive ductal carcinoma. No warning, no symptoms, just confirmation that this awful disease was already leaching into my lymphatic system. I had discovered a little bump during a self-exam and although that turned out to be a cyst, the mammogram showed those suspicious-looking spots on the other breast. Suddenly, a regimen of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation controlled my life. I was no longer in charge of potty-training my two-year-old; my only job was to win the cancer battle.

How does this happen? Why does our treatment for breast cancer include terms like toxins and radiation—the very things we believe cause cancer?  Why is everyone working on a cure? Don’t we want to know why more and more of us are getting breast cancer in the first place?

Although I realized the obvious value in finding the perfect cure, I knew in my heart that the real problem lied in the cause. I started paying more attention to what I ate, the ingredients in those foods, and most importantly, what I fed my children. I had an 8-year-old daughter who now had a family history of breast cancer. I needed to do all I could to prevent cancer from being a part of her life.

Desperate to find peace and healing and to restore my health, I developed a love for the outdoors and discovered the cathartic power of hiking. I started with day hikes in the hills behind my house; soon the trails became longer and the mountains higher. The physical accomplishment of climbing tall mountains slowly began rebuilding my self-confidence. 

Along the way, I discovered the work of the Breast Cancer Fund. I knew instantly I had found the perfect partner when I learned they advocate for the elimination of preventable causes of breast cancer and they build awareness by hiking and climbing tall mountains! Detection is critical—a self-exam and mammogram undoubtedly saved my life. Ultimately, however, I want to know what caused my breast cancer. I have learned so much from this great organization that works tirelessly to educate us and to demand better public policy.

That glorious day of rediscovering myself on the Breast Cancer Fund’s Climb Against the Odds lives vividly in my mind today. It is a constant reminder of the power we have to push forward on hard days during chemotherapy, up precipitous mountains, and in our unrelenting efforts to prevent breast cancer.

Prevention Is Power this October and beyond

What does breast cancer prevention mean to you?

Maybe it means choosing fresh foods over canned because you want to avoid BPA in cans.

It could mean selecting shampoo, lotion and makeup that doesn't contain parabens, synthetic fragrance or a host of other chemicals linked to cancer.

It might also mean advocating for clean air and water in your neighborhood or city, free of toxic contaminants and pollutants.

Whatever the action you take in your daily life, at the Breast Cancer Fund we know that your act is a powerful statement in support of better health for you, your family and the people in your community.

This October, we're launching our new Prevention Is Power campaign to celebrate your powerful acts and to inspire thousands more women and men to learn what prevention means—and how it can be part of their daily lives.

Prevention is a major conceptual shift from the widely promoted—but no longer very useful—awareness framework around breast cancer. Who isn't already aware of breast cancer? It's time we move beyond awareness and start focusing on why so many women—an alarming 1 in 8—are being diagnosed with this disease.

One thing is clear: mounting scientific evidence shows that our risk of breast cancer is increased by exposures to chemicals in our everyday environment—chemicals in our food, our products, our air and our water.

The good news is you have the power to help prevent breast cancer! Join the Prevention Is Power campaign to learn how to protect yourself, your family and your friends.

Our Prevention Is Power campaign will also empower you and thousands of others to contribute to the big-picture changes we need to reduce the risk for ALL women. Together, we'll demand non-toxic products from companies and smarter laws that protect our health from elected officials.

This message of prevention is needed now more than ever. But we need your support to ensure that message is echoed throughout the country. Join with us now in the movement to transform awareness into action this Breast Cancer Prevention Month. Prevention Is Power!

Study explores chemical effects on breast tissue - and why we don't have enough of this data

Our colleagues at Silent Spring Institute have published a landmark review of the effects of mothers’ exposures to environmental chemicals on their daughters' breast development before and soon after birth.

Research into effects of common chemicals on breast development is a crucial strategy for breast cancer prevention, but one that's frequently omitted from research models. In other words, the breast often isn't studied when scientists assess the health risks of chemicals—researchers look at other tissues and systems instead. That's why only 212 chemicals have been identified as mammary carcinogens—not because other chemicals are not linked to breast cancer, but because most of the 80,000 chemicals registered for use in the United States have not been tested for their effects on the mammary gland.

The review, published in Environmental Health Perspectives in late June, brings together for the first time what we know about the effects of common chemicals on breast development.

Breast development begins in the womb and continues until a woman breastfeeds an infant. Thus, breast development spans decades. As noted in our State of the Evidence report, there are critical periods of development—such as in the womb, during puberty or during pregnancy—when breast tissue is especially vulnerable to exposures to environmental chemicals.

One of the key findings of the review is that for some chemicals, such as atrazine, bisphenol A, DDT and genistein, breasts are affected at lower doses than other tissues. In addition, these and other endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as dibutyl phthalate, nonylphenol and polybrominated diphenyl ether fire retardants (PBDEs), can alter the structure of breast tissue and the timing of breast development at puberty.

The review recommends that changes in breast development be included in chemical risk assessment, and that research consider exposures during the key periods of development when breasts are most vulnerable. When 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, the lack of breast development outcomes as part of chemical safety assessment is a clear oversight.

Addressing this oversight requires that chemicals be tested for effects on breast development before we put them into products. To this end, the National Toxicology Program and EPA need to make testing for later-life effects of prenatal and early life exposures on the breast part of their standard protocols. The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) has developed a model research program on breast cancer prevention, but the federal government needs to expand this, and other models of cancer prevention, into a national cancer prevention strategy.

Convenience at what cost: The connection between chemicals and breast cancer (Environmental Health Policy Institute, 6/16/2011)

Our colleagues at Physicians for Social Responsibility posed to top researchers, physicians and advocates the question, "What are we learning about the relationship between environmental toxicants and cancer? How should our regulatory system respond to this information?"

Of course this is a topic the Breast Cancer Fund is keenly interested—and deeply involved—in. Our staff Nancy Buermeyer and Connie Engel responded with a piece that focuses on breast cancer, of course, but also hones in on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs):

One of the most disconcerting set of chemicals linked to diseases, including breast cancer, are those termed endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), including BPA, phthalates and other chemicals found in our everyday products. EDCs disrupt the body’s hormone systems, which regulate nearly every aspect of the intricate and exquisite process of life—from the awe-inspiring process of fetal development to the dramatic changes in puberty to the everyday processes of turning food into energy. Since one of the known risk factors for breast cancer is increased exposure to estrogen, it stands to reason, and the research bears out, that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals that look like estrogen to our cells would increase the risk of developing the disease.

EDCs are a perfect example of why the “dose makes the poison” logic is flawed. EDCs can sometimes exert their most significant effects at exquisitely small doses. This is no surprise, since the hormones normally affect physical processes at very low doses. (Read complete article.)

Their essay stands alongside essays from top experts in environmental health, which we highly recommend reading. You can view them all on PSR's website.

Breast Cancer Fund president in Fairbanks to discuss environmental risks (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 5/27/2011)

Our president and CEO, Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., is in Alaska this week to discuss the environmental links to breast cancer, as reported by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. If you're in the area, please stop by Thursday (event details in the article).

Rizzo advocates for the elimination of the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease. She said breast cancer is being seen more and more as a chronic disease, despite the fact that younger women in their 20s and 30s are contracting it.

"This is not the period of one’s life when you expect cancer to develop," Rizzo said.

Her talk will focus on what people can do to avoid the chemicals suspected of causing the disease and how they can encourage lawmakers to better regulate the chemicals. (Read complete article.)