Hello! It's time for another installment of Breast Cancer Action's monthly e-newsletter-- a collection of news, notices and action alerts for people concerned about the breast cancer epidemic. Welcome to any new e-alert members! If you think you've been added by mistake, please follow the directions at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.
PLEASE SEND US YOUR SNAIL MAIL ADDRESSES - We just can't get enough of you. ..and hope that you can't get enough of us! If you're not already on our mailing list we'd love to send you our bi-monthly informational newsletter. (Check out the archives: www.bcaction.org/Pages/GetInformed/Newsletters.html) Just reply to this email with your name and address. It will only take a second. Thanks!
In this issue...
1. COSMETICS CAMPAIGN LEGISLATIVE VICTORY: The California Safer Cosmetics Bill (AB 2012) passes Senate Health Committee
2. COSMETICS NEWS AND ACTION: New Environmental Working Group report on cosmetic safety, Be a smart shopper, Give the cosmetic companies a piece of your mind
3. HEALTH CARE FOR ALL LEGISLATIVE VICTORY: The California Health Care for All Bill (SB 921) passes Assembly Health Committee
4. SAVE THE DATE: BCA activist meeting at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, 12/7
5. IN THE NEWS: Drug trial disclosure, Growing Up Toxic report by Environment California
6. REGISTER TO VOTE!
7. FAQ of the MONTH: What is environmental health tracking?
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1. COSMETICS CAMPAIGN VICTORY: The California Safer Cosmetics Bill (AB 2012) passes Senate Health Committee
Thank you to all of you who took action in support of AB 2012 - the safer cosmetics bill (formerly AB 2025). On June 30, Assembly Bill 2012, authored by Assemblywoman Judy Chu and co-sponsored by BCA, passed the California Senate Health Committee by a 7-3 vote. The bill requires disclosure of all chemicals in cosmetic products that cause cancer or reproductive harm, giving California consumers the ability to make more informed choices about the cosmetics they purchase. The bill also prohibits the use of hazardous phthalates, chemicals that are possibly linked to increased breast cancer risk and are known to cause a range of birth defects and lifelong reproductive impairments. The bill will be heard next in the Senate Appropriations Committee. We'll keep you updated on what you can do to help it pass!
Learn more about chemicals and cosmetics from BCA's Think Before You Pink Campaign at http://http://www.ThinkBeforeYouPink.org
Sacramento Bee - Time to stop glossing over risks of beauty products, Marjie Lundstrom 7/3
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/9871191p-10793485c.html
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2. COSMETICS NEWS AND ACTION: New Environmental Working Group report on cosmetic safety, Be a smart shopper, Give the cosmetic companies a piece of your mind
What's in the body care products and cosmetics you're using? Check out Skin Deep - http://http://.ewg.org/reports/skindeep - a new report by The Environmental Working Group (EWG) that ranks more than 7,500 products on their potential health risks.
The EWG report reveals that:
-An astonishing one-third of all personal care products contain one or more ingredients classified as possible human carcinogens.
-89% of the more than 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety.
-The Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to do safety testing of their cosmetic products.
- Nail care products contain numerous reproductive toxins, including dibutyl phthalate, toluene, lead acetate and ethoxyethanol acetate.
TAKE ACTION
Knowledge is Power - Search for the products you use in the EWG report: http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/browse_products.php
Be a Smart Consumer – Check out our list of companies who have pledged not to use parabens and/or phthalates in their products:
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/Resources.html
Tell the Companies What You Think – send an email to cosmetic giants - Avon, Revlon, Estee Lauder and Mary Kay – who position themselves as leaders in the fight against breast cancer while using harmful chemicals in their products:
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/TakeAction.html
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3. HEALTH CARE FOR ALL VICTORY: The California Health Care for All Bill (SB 921) passes Assembly Health Committee
There has been a swell of grassroots support for universal health care in California and our legislators are listening! Thank you to everyone who took action in support of Senate Bill 921, authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl. The bill passed the State Assembly Health Committee by a vote of 12 to 5.
The number of Americans without health insurance is rising. In 2002, there were 43.6 million uninsured Americans - 15.2 percent of the population. One in five Californians is uninsured. Most uninsured people are employed but either cannot afford the medical insurance offered to them at work or are not offered healthcare benefits through their job. The Health Care for All Bill could set an important precedent for the rest of the country. SB 921 would provide comprehensive health benefits to every Californian at no new cost to California's general fund. To find out how you can take further action in support of this bill go to:
http://www.healthcareforall.org
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4. SAVE THE DATE: BCA activist meeting at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, 12/7
Let's make our voices heard! The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is the largest annual medical conference dedicated exclusively to breast cancer research. Activists are only a small percentage of the attendees (last year there were about 200 out of about 6,000), but together we can make our presence known. BCA will hold a meeting on Tuesday, December 7th at 6:00 p.m. (the night before the Symposium begins) to discuss our key messages and strategies for speaking out at the Symposium. If you live in the area or are going to the Symposium, mark your calendar now.
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5. IN THE NEWS: Drug trial disclosure, Growing Up Toxic report by Environment California
Drug Trial Disclosure
Do you ever wonder why you always hear the “good news” about new and improved drugs but rarely the “bad news” about unsuccessful or negative drug trials? Currently, pharmaceutical companies are not required to disclose the results of their clinical trials, or even whether one was conducted. Since drug companies have control of what data gets published and what doesn’t, trials that show positive results are spotlighted while all others fall under the radar screen of not only the public but medical journals and doctors as well. Two groups, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, have begun to push for full drug-trial disclosure. The AMA is calling on lawmakers to create a national registry that would allow doctors and patients to find results of any clinical trials.
Bloomberg – Doctors Seek Rules for Drugmakers to Disclose Studies, 6/15
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aDJ0I6exIVNo&refer=us
Growing Up Toxic
A new report released by Environment California Research and Policy Center reveals that many common household products contain chemicals that may harm childhood development. Problems like premature birth; male genital defects; learning, attention, and emotional disturbances; early puberty; obesity; and low
sperm count have been increasing across the nation over the past several decades. While a range of factors, from lifestyle to heredity, may contribute to any one of these trends, a growing body of research suggests that toxic chemicals that can be found in consumer products like furniture, electronics, and cosmetics play a significant role.
Growing Up Toxic: Chemical Exposures and Increases in Developmental Disease
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/envirocaliftoxics.asp?id2=13673
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6. REGISTER TO VOTE!
Every vote counts! Let's fill the voting booths and elect decision-makers who will do the right thing on women's and environmental issues. November 2 will be here before you know it. Register now and start informing yourself about the candidates up for election.
Register to vote: http://www.beavoter.org
Resources on local, state, and national candidates and officials:
League of Women Voters: http://www.lwv.org/voter
Project Vote Smart: http://www.vote-smart.org
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7. FAQ of the MONTH: What is environmental health tracking?
Environmental health tracking is one way for us to gather more information about diseases and what we’re exposed to in our air, water, and homes in order to take action to protect our health. Currently, we have very little data on exposures to environmental hazards and the health effects that may be related to those exposures. The chemical industry and polluters get off clean by saying “no data means no problem”. But based on the small, but growing, amount of evidence linking diseases like cancer, asthma, and Alzheimer’s to toxic chemical exposure, we know that no data really means that the problems just haven’t been adequately studied.
Environmental health tracking is one way to help bring those problems to light. In 2003, Congress included $28 million in the budget to begin the development of a nationwide network to track when and where breast cancer and other chronic diseases occur, along with the presence of relevant environmental factors such as PCB’s, dioxin, pesticides, and other pollutants. The hope is that this data will help us better understand the links between diseases and environmental hazards in order to take action to protect public health.
A national system of environmental health tracking would:
- Track environmental hazards to guide exposure-prevention efforts;
- Track disease trends to understand if they are changing over time, in residents statewide, in specific populations, or in certain geographic areas;
- Link environmental-hazard information, exposure data, and disease reports to support environmental-health research;
- Inform the development and evaluation of the effectiveness of disease-prevention and environmental-protection programs and policies;
- Facilitate public access to information on environmental health issues.
Breast Cancer Action is advancing these efforts in California as a member of the California Environmental Health Tracking Program Planning Consortium. As we push for more and better data, we continue to demand that lawmakers and industry act now based on the weight of the evidence that already exists to reduce and eliminate our exposure to chemicals we know or suspect cause breast cancer and other chronic diseases.
Learn more at these websites:
National Center for Disease Control Environmental Public Health Tracking Projects: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/tracking/EPHTracking/EPHTracking.htm
California Environmental Health Tracking Project: http://www.catracking.com
-- YOUR INPUT WANTED: Is there a question you want answered, or an issue that you want BCA's opinion on? Send it to kklein@bcaction.org and we'll try to answer it personally or feature it in a future e-newsletter!
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That's it for this edition! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about this listserv.
Thanks for your continued support of BCA. Until next time,
Kendra Klein, Community Organizer
Toll free at 877-2STOPBC (278-6722)
http://www.bcaction.org
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org
Our members are the driving force behind our efforts to end the breast
cancer epidemic. Because Breast Cancer Action does not accept funding from
the government or the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, we need
your support. You can donate on-line at
http://bcaction.org/Pages/SupportUs/Donate.html or call 415-243-9301, or
toll-free at 1-877-278-6722. All gifts are deeply appreciated.
Breast Cancer Action is funded in part by a grant from the California Wellness Foundation (TCWF). Created in 1992 as an independent, private foundation, TCWF's mission is to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention programs.
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