We are proud to welcome the Breast Cancer Fund to our growing coalition. Based in San Francisco, this nonprofit has a mission quite different from most cancer organizations. Instead of focusing on finding cures, the Breast Cancer Fund identifies – and advocates for elimination of – the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease. Plastics are one such cause.

The mission of the Breast Cancer Fund is closely related to the our mission. First, we share a concern about the carcinogenic properties of plastics. Carcinogenic chemicals are released throughout the entire life cycle of plastics from production, through use and disposal. In addition, we share the Breast Cancer Fund’s strategy to get to the root of the problem by eliminating carcinogens from our products through legislative action like the proposed federal ban on BPA in food and drink containers.

No more than 10 percent of breast cancers are genetic, and science points to toxic chemicals and radiation as factors in the sharp rise of breast cancer incidence. Through public education, policy initiatives, advocacy and innovative campaigns, the Breast Cancer Fund mobilizes the public to secure the changes needed to stop this disease before it starts.

The Breast Cancer Fund focuses on the potential impacts of toxic chemicals on breast cancer; however, the group is cognizant that reducing human exposure will also keep these chemicals out of our air, waterways, soils and ice caps to reduce exposure for all animals, including humans.

The Breast Cancer Fund has taken a lead in federal advocacy for elimination of carcinogens in plastics, and  includes excellent information on its website about the carcinogenic dangers of plastics.

Welcome on board!

An article in Sierra Club Green Home highlights a recent study by the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill linking behavioral problems in children from women that were exposed to plastics containing bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy.

The study, published Oct. 6, (download full report PDF) suggests that if a woman is exposed to plastics that leach BPA during her pregnancy,  the baby’s nervous system might be adversely affected.  Consequences include aggressive behavior and hyperactivity.

This is the first study ever to examine if there is a link between prenatal BPA exposure and these neurological problems in children.  Until now all studies had been performed on animals, not on humans, even though this concern has been expressed by scientists for years.

Other public health disasters, such as obesity, diabetes, breast cancer and infertility are also linked to bisphenol A (BPA) exposure.

Governments have a responsibility to intervene immediately and protect the public from exposure to BPA and other toxic chemicals leached by plastics, especially when scientific investigation has already established a more than plausible risk to human health. In some legal systems, as in the law of the European Union, the precautionary principle is a general and compulsory principle of the law.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in the US.

In the face of governmental apathy, and collusion with the plastic industry lobbyists, time has come for us citizens to raise awareness and start a social movement to demand legislation to ban BPA.

Watch this video by Dr. Frederick vom Saal, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri and an expert in the study of the effects of BPA.