Breast Cancer Prevention Partners

Causes: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Health

Mission: Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) works to prevent breast cancer by eliminating our exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation linked to the disease.

Results: Working with a wide variety of partners, we have made enormous gains since our founding: To date, we have published 33 major scientific reports and studies, including our landmark “State of the Evidence” reports. We are also the first to develop a comprehensive breast cancer primary prevention plan for California. We had a central leadership role in the passage of 11 local, state and federal laws. Most recent laws include two California bills addressing consumers’ right to know what is in the products they buy: SB 258– the first cleaning product ingredient disclosure legislation in the U.S. – and AB 2775 – a bill that requires product label ingredient disclosure for all professional nail, hair, and beauty salon products sold in California The impact of both of these laws will be felt across the nation. We have also secured an impressive amount of market based change on the part of the $84 billion cosmetics industry: eliminated the nail products industry’s use of the “toxic trio” of dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde and toluene; secured commitments from major multinationals (i.e., Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson) to voluntarily disclose fragrance ingredients, and; drove out DEHP and DBP phthalates, triclosan, lead acetate and long chain parabens from the market. Through market pressure and legislation, we’ve eliminated the use of bisphenol A (BPA) – an endocrine disrupting compound – in several consumer products, including baby bottles, plastic drinking bottles, and food can linings. As seasoned advocates, we constantly work to build the base of public support necessary to convince policymakers to oppose the powerful chemical industry, get the supply chain cooperation needed to change markets, and educate consumers on why they should want and demand safer products. Each year we see a steady increase in consumer demand for safe products, a growing market to meet that demand, and positive change on the legislative and regulatory front. We believe that our many successes have proven that incremental change can result in important victories for environmental health. With your support, we will continue to increase the scientific and public conversation around breast cancer prevention, and in the process, we will transform how our nation thinks about and uses chemicals.

Programs: One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. It is in response to the alarming rates that BCPP was founded over 26 years ago. During our first decade, we, like other cancer organizations, focused on raising awareness of the prevalence of breast cancer, searching for a cure, providing access to care and support for people with a diagnosis. In 2001, we decided to fill a necessary gap and focus on prevention of the disease to ensure that the next generations would see declining rates of breast cancer. At that time and still today, our focus on prevention is unique, while most resources for breast cancer are focused on treatment and finding a cure. There are many reasons people get breast cancer, and there is a definitive body of scientific evidence linking breast cancer to chemicals in our everyday environment—chemicals in our food, our products, our air and our water. Unfortunately, due to weak safety standards very few chemicals are ever tested for their effects on our health and companies can hide the dangers of chemicals they put in the products they sell us. BCPP analyzes and translates the growing body of science linking breast cancer and environmental exposures, educates consumers about how to reduce their risk, convinces businesses to make safer products, and works to enact public health policies that reduce chemical exposures to protect everyone. We work to create a world where the environmental risk factors for breast cancer are eliminated and overall rates of breast cancer are reduced.