Frequently Asked Questions
The following are answers to questions that we receive from people interested in our work, arranged by topic:
1. About the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition
2. Environment and Breast Cancer
3. The Politics of Breast Cancer
About the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition
Who is the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and how are you different from other breast cancer organizations?
As our mission statement indicates, we define breast cancer as a political issue, and challenge all obstacles to the eradication of this disease. To eradicate breast cancer we must prevent it. This does not refer to early detection in the form of self breast exams and mammography. We are trying to find the causes of breast cancer, so that we can prevent every woman and every man from ever getting breast cancer in the first place.
While screening and treatment are critically important, many good organizations and federal programs are offered to assist in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. What is far too under-funded and under-recognized is the need to research what is causing this disease. Although there are some important steps that we each can take in our own homes to eat well, exercise, avoid cigarettes, etc., we know that even the healthiest among us still has a 1 in 7 chance* of getting diagnosed. For this reason, the MBCC advocates for increased resources to investigate environmental links to breast cancer in the form of toxins that can be found in our air, water, soil, food, homes, cleaning supplies and other consumer products that we use every day. Furthermore, we challenge companies who have co-opted the pink ribbon to sell their products, while giving little to none of their profits to prevent breast cancer and even worse, may have chemicals in their products that are adding to the epidemic.
Read More
MBCC History and Accomplishments
MBCC Organizational Goals
MBCC Projects & Campaigns
* National Cancer Institute. Survey, Epidemiology and End Results, 2005
Where does the MBCC get its funding?
Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition holds two events each summer to raise money for our work. Against the Tide Swim, Walk, Kayak event is now in its 18th year and raises more than half of our budget. Additional income comes through grants from private foundations, employee giving programs and from general donations. Currently MBCC receives grants funding for our work on the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. MBCC currently receives no public money.
Click here to make a contribution to our work
Why doesn’t MBCC take money from pharmaceutical or cosmetics companies? It is of paramount importance to the MBCC that we deliver information to our membership and the public that is free from bias. For this reason we have an organizational policy that prohibits us from taking funds from corporations that may create a real or apparent conflict of interest, or whose practices endanger public health or may contribute to cancer incidence.
Environment and Breast Cancer
What do we know about environmental links to breast cancer?
A significant body of scientific evidence links exposure to synthetic chemicals to an increased risk of breast cancer. There are several reasons why we suspect an environmental link:
- Only 5-10% of breast cancer cases are due to high-risk inherited genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). The known risk factors, like late menopause, having children late in life, and family history of cancer are present in only 30 percent of breast cancer cases.
- Non-industrialized countries have lower breast cancer rates than industrialized countries. People who move to industrialized countries from countries with low rates develop the same breast cancer rates of the industrialized country.
- Estrogen is a hormone closely linked with the development of breast cancer. Numerous synthetic chemicals act like estrogen in our bodies, including common weed killers and pesticides, plastic additives or by-products, ingredients in spray paints and paint removers, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used extensively in the manufacture of food packaging as well as in medical products, appliances, cars, toys, credit cards and rainwear.
- Ionizing radiation from x-rays and nuclear waste is a proven cause of breast cancer.
Additional Resources:
State of the Evidence 2008, the current state of the evidence synthesized in a report by our colleagues at Breast Cancer Action and Breast Cancer Fund
Consensus Statement on Breast Cancer and the Environment which the MBCC assisted in writing with our partners in the Collaborative on Health and the Environment
Environmental Pollutants and Breast Cancer, a paper authored by our colleagues, Julia Brody and Ruthann Rudel at Silent Spring Institute
Who is doing the research?
There are really only a small number of research institutions looking specifically at environmental links to breast cancer. While some funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is looking at causes of breast cancer, they are generally focused on lifestyle issues - weight, smoking, diet, exercise, etc. MBCC believes this is very limited considering the evidence for environmental links to breast cancer. Also, not only does this blame the victim, but we know that even the healthiest among us has a one in seven chance of receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.
For this reason, in 1994 the MBCC founded the Silent Spring Institute. Silent Spring Institute is a partnership of scientists, physicians, public health advocates, and community activists united around the common goal of identifying and changing the links between the environment and women's health, especially breast cancer.
What types of compounds are priorities for breast cancer research at Silent Spring Institute?
SSI’s researchers focus on two types of chemicals: those that cause mammary tumors in animals and those that disrupt hormones. In particular, SSI’s scientists study chemicals in the environment that mimic estrogen; natural estrogen is a well-established breast cancer risk factor, therefore, synthetic chemicals that act like estrogen when in our bodies are potential sources of increased risk of breast cancer. The chemicals SSI focuses on have common sources, including pesticides, detergents, plastics, and air pollutants from motor vehicles and other combustion, and can be found in our drinking water, household dust, and indoor air.
Are there other cancers and illnesses that have environmental causes?Yes. There are a number of diseases with documented environmental causes: lung cancer and cigarette smoking, oral cancer and use of chewing tobacco, mesothelioma and asbestos inhalation, leukemia and exposure to benzene, and melanoma and/or breast cancer and exposure to radiation.
Chronic diseases and disabilities have reached epidemic proportions in the United States, affecting more than 100 million men, women and children, which is more than one-third of our population. Asthma, autism, birth defects, cancers, developmental disabilities, diabetes, endometriosis, infertility, Parkinson's disease and other diseases and disabilities are causing increased suffering and concern. Scientific evidence increasingly indicates a relationship between a range of environmental factors and these diseases and conditions. One important contributor may be increased exposure to the wide array of chemical substances that are used in modern industrial society, including diverse synthetic chemicals, compounds, metals and related elements such as lead, mercury and arsenic, as well as other pollutants in food, water, and air.
What do we know about how these chemicals accumulate in our body?
Since 2000 the Environmental Working Group has spearheaded a series of groundbreaking investigations on the pollution in people, from newborns and grandparents to mothers and teens. They have found pollutants in everyone. They have also found hundreds altogether, in combinations that have never been tested for safety. The personal pollution revealed by these studies exposes disturbing gaps in scientific understanding of our exposures and in our system of public health protections. Transcending all boundaries of race, faith, income, and geography, this is the pollution that is in all of us and in our families; it speaks powerfully to our need to understand the risks and protect those most vulnerable among us, including children who are exposed even before the moment of birth. Read more about Body Burden studies.
What is meant by Environmental Justice?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” Often low income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution. This is due to a number of flaws in our zoning codes and government oversight. The MBCC has begun to work with our partners locally and nationally on this issue as we believe it is directly linked to the higher incidence rates of cancer in low income and communities of color. This is a new and developing part of our work. Links to sites on Environmental Justice.
What is the Precautionary Principle?
The idea of precaution has been handed down to us in the form of maxims, such as "a stitch in time saves nine,” or "better safe than sorry," or "look before you leap." The Precautionary Principle says that if there is a possibility of harm (instead of scientifically proven certainty of harm) to human health or the environment from a substance or activity, precautionary measures should be taken; the proponent of the activity should be required to prove that the activity is safe, rather than the public being required to prove that it is hazardous, the victims having to prove what has harmed them. More on the precautionary principle.
The Precautionary Principle is being used in Europe in the REACH initiative to guide chemical policy and is growing in popularity in the US. MBCC is involved in various state and national campaigns that are based on the precautionary principle, for example the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
How can we use the precautionary principle to protect our health?
The MBCC uses the precautionary principle as a guideline for much of our work. Now more than ever, we need to take precaution to protect our health. There are over 85,000 synthetic chemicals on the market today, from preservatives in our lipstick to flame retardants in our sofas, from plasticizers in our water bottles to pesticides on our fruits and vegetables. The U.S. government has no adequate chemical regulation policy, therefore companies are allowed to manufacture and use chemicals without ever establishing their safety. When government does step in to regulate chemicals they use a "risk management" model that asks "how much harm is allowable?" If instead a precautionary principle approach was followed, the government would ask, what are the alternatives to using chemicals in consumer products? We can use the precautionary principle to reduce and eliminate our exposure to chemicals we know or suspect cause harm.
The main components of the precautionary principle are:
- Acting now, even before definitive scientific proof of harm, to reduce and eliminate practices that we suspect do harm to human health or the environment,
- Seeking out alternatives to activities that pose a threat to human health or the environment,
- Shifting the burden of proof so that the companies that make and profit from products and activities must prove that they are safe, rather than the current situation where the public is required to prove that something is harmful before it’s stopped,
- Using an open, informed and democratic process that involves affected communities in decisions being made about their health and their environment.
You can use the precautionary principle in your home by switching to non-toxic cleaning products and by shopping organic. Here are some links to help you. Remember, just because a product is on the store shelves doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Learn More
Science & Research
The Politics of Breast Cancer
What is the Cancer Industry?
The cancer industry is the multi-million dollar machine that profits from cancer. Often these corporations, organizations and agencies diminish or mask the extent of the cancer problem, fail to protect our health, or divert attention away from the importance of finding the causes of breast cancer and working to prevent the disease. This includes drug companies that, in addition to profiting from cancer treating drugs, are often owned by or in partnership with producers of toxic chemicals that may be contributing to the high rates of cancer in this country and increasing rates throughout the world. It also includes the polluting industries that continue to release substances we know or suspect are dangerous to our health, and the public relations firms and public agencies who protect these polluters. The Cancer Industry includes organizations like the American Cancer Society (ACS), that downplay the risk of cancer from pesticides and other environmental factors, and who historically have refused to take a stand on environmental regulation. ACS is greatly compromised by its relationship to large pharmaceutical companies and others who profit form cancer.
What is breast cancer industry month?
Every October begins the media blitz known as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). Pink ribbons abound and the message you keep hearing is, "Get Your Mammogram!" No mention is ever made in the official NBCAM materials of the need to find the causes of cancer so that we can prevent it. Not surprisingly, NBCAM was originally created by a drug company—now called AstraZeneca—that, in addition to producing breast cancer treatment drugs, also profited off the sale of an herbicide known to cause cancer. To bring attention to this history, and to the need to find true prevention of cancer, activists reclaimed October and renamed it National Cancer Industry Month. Throughout the month, various campaigns are held to educate the public about the corporate connections to cancer, and the need to refocus attention on what needs to be done to stop cancer before it starts.
What is the problem with the pink ribbon?
Unfortunately, the pink ribbon is a symbol that has been co-opted by big business to sell products. Many of these companies only give a small portion of the proceeds to breast cancer organizations. None of the money goes to breast cancer prevention. Worse yet, many of the companies who profit from breast cancer may actually be contributing to the problem. Yoplait Yogurt for example, sells yogurts with pink tops every October. Yet, until a recent national campaign in which MBCC participated, Yoplait came from cows treated with Bovine Growth Hormones that have been linked to breast cancer, as of Summer 2009, Yoplait has stopped using rBGH. In addition, you should know that Yoplait donates ten cents for every pink yogurt lid mailed back, meaning you'd have to eat three yogurts a day during the entire four-month campaign in order to raise $36 for the cause.
Other examples of companies profiting from this double standard include Avon whose cosmetics contain carcinogens and reproductive toxins and BMW whose car emissions contain PAH’s.
We invite you to visit ThinkBeforeYouPink, a Campaign of Breast Cancer Action for more information.
I have a friend that is walking in the Avon Walk and has asked me to support her, what should I tell her?
MBCC and our allies have long challenged Avon for many of their practices surrounding their walks. When the walks first began, Avon was giving no money to the local communities where the walks took place, nor were they transparent in their allocation of the funds raised. While these issues have begun to be addressed, thanks to our advocacy work with the heads of the Avon Foundation, many concerns remain.
The cost to participate in the walks is very high at $1,800 per participant. 29% of the money raised by walkers is put into company and foundation overhead. We believe that given the incredible marketing that the walks provide for Avon, they should pay for the overhead with their own marketing dollars and not take the money raised in good faith by the walkers.
Virtually no money is going towards breast cancer prevention. While Avon claims that a portion of the money raised through the walks is going to prevention, not one organization listed on the website is doing prevention work. They have given a very small amount to Silent Spring Institute.
The Silent Spring Institute can be used as an example of the small amount that Avon actually gives to prevention. From the 2006 Boston Avon Walk, SSI received $100,000; in 2005 they received $75,000, and in 2004 $50,000. These are very small grants compared to Avon’s usual award. Avon raised $6.3 million in Boston, so that means they dedicated 1.6% to environmental research aimed at prevention.
Most importantly, the Avon Company has chemicals linked to breast cancer in their products! Yet Avon, “the company for women,” has refused to talk to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics or even admit they have possible carcinogens in their products.
Currently there are 676 Avon products listed in Skin Deep, a personal care product safety guide with in-depth information on 30,000 products. Of the Avon products:
- 280 are listed in the Highest Concern category
- 391 are listed in the Moderate Concern category
- 4 are listed in the Lowest Concern category
Avon products contain eight different parabens which have been linked to breast cancer. Other chemicals of concern include endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins and possible other carcinogens.
Thanks to Silent Spring Institute, Breast Cancer Action and the Environmental Working Group for their contributions to this document. Do you have additional questions that we can answer for you? Please email us at info@mbcc.org. Thank you for your interest in our work.
http://www.mbcc.org
Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition
1419 Hancock Street, Suite 202, Quincy, MA 02169 • Ph.(617) 376-6222 • Fx.(617) 376-6221 • toll free: 1-800-649-6222
www.mbcc.org Email: info@mbcc.org
MISSION STATEMENT: "Defining breast cancer as a political issue, the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition challenges all obstacles to the eradication of this disease."
powered by intuitive-websites.com