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

Kaiser Permanente detoxes AND saves money

Great news! Yesterday, health-care giant Kaiser Permanente announced it would stop using IV medical equipment made with the toxic chemicals PVC and DEHP.

 

When PVC is made, vinyl chloride—a known human carcinogen— is released, so any move to reduce the use of PVC plastic decreases our exposure to these toxic pollutants linked to cancer. DEHP is one of a group of endocrine-disrupting chemicals called phthalates that have complex effects on several hormonal systems. DEHP has been shown in lab studies to increase breast cancer cell proliferation and to interfere with breast cancer treatment.

 A Washington Post story notes that this switchover affects nearly 100 tons of medical equipment — 4.9 million IV tubing sets and 9.2 million solution bags — each year. Great, right? But it gets better: the change is also expected to save Kaiser almost $5 million a year.

Way to go, Kaiser, for showing that you can do the right thing to reduce toxic exposures and even save money along the way.

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.

New (yet not so new) report on breast cancer and the environment

Today the Institute of Medicine released a report, funded by Komen for the Cure, entitled Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach. Our President and CEO, Jeanne Rizzo, responded to the report:

The Breast Cancer Fund has reviewed the Institute of Medicine’s new report Breast Cancer and the Environment, and our takeaway is that while it offers a useful review of some of the existing data on the disease’s links to environmental factors, it relies on an antiquated model of weighing the evidence and, therefore, does not go far enough to protect public health.(Read Jeanne's full statemet.)

Unfortunately, the report did not go far enough in its warning about the potential harm of chemical exposure. For example, the report finds that the chemical BPA is a ‘biologically plausible hazard,’ but says that the evidence does not necessarily warrant individual action to avoid the chemical. 

But that doesn't make sense to us. If BPA were, say, a potential pharmaceutical drug, it is highly doubtful that, given the adverse effects seen lab studies, the chemical would ever be allowed into clinical trials in humans. Yet, when you think about it, we are all currently part of an uncontrolled human experiment on the effects of BPA exposure. Are you concerned about BPA? Want to help get BPA out of canned foods--one of our biggest expousure sources to the chemical? Join our Cans Not Cancer campaign! 

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.

Pink Inc. has many starting to see red (Sacramento Bee, 10/23/2011)

Pink is big in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this year is no exception. But some survivors, like two-time Climb Against the Odds team member Ann Maechtlen, are looking for something more, reports the Sacramento Bee:

Ann Maechtlen, formerly of Redding, is one who has lost faith in the bigger organizations. Years before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she joined in walkathons like the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life to honor cancer survivors. "It was a great thing, especially in the days when people couldn't even talk about the disease," Maechtlen says.

Now, she avoids the parade of pink walkers and product promotions. She feels they trumpet a superficial notion of "awareness," even if some groups do good things with the money raised and promote great solidarity among survivors and families.

"It tugs at your heartstrings, but I can't get behind it anymore," she says. "For the most part, everyone is perpetuating the Big Business of cancer."

For survivors of breast cancer and their families, it can be very healing to contribute to group activities. After nine grueling months of chemotherapy, Maechtlen joined an organized hike to the summit of Mount Shasta, up 14,179 feet, which raised about $13,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund, a charity she believes in because of its focus on prevention and environmental-factor research. (Read complete article.)

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.