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FPTP joins other health & enviroment ngos – open letter to chris whitty

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty now oversees the newly created Office for Health Promotion (OHP) which has a remit to drive the government’s prevention measures.  However, there is NO mention or inclusion of environmental risk factors (ie chemicals) on human health.

So, this week, we’ve joined with other public health and environmental NGOs to call for Public Health bodies to be given direct responsibilities to research and regulate the effects of harmful chemicals on the nation’s health. Public health strategies must commit to keep harmful chemicals out of our products and the environment.

Every single day, from pre-birth to late in life, we are exposed to a potent cocktail of chemicals from innumerable sources including bisphenols in plastics, flame retardants in furniture  and FAS in food packaging.

FULL TEXT HERE 

https://cdn.breastcanceruk.org.uk/uploads/2021/07/Joint-Letter-to-Chief-Medical-Officer-Chris-Whitty.pdf

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Blog, News

Breast Cancer Prevention Month: A 38 Degrees Petition To Ban Toxic Till Receipts

Marking October Breast Cancer Prevention Month, From Pink to Prevention has launched a 38 Degrees petition entitled No more poison in our hands – Time for a ban on all paper till receipts

Did you know that every time you shop the chances are you end up with poison on your hands? Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used to coat till and other types of receipts. It can be readily absorbed through the skin, interfering with our hormones and is linked to breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, obesity, and reproductive and neurological disorders. BPA was classified as an Endocrine Disrupting Chemical (EDC) in 2016.

Elevated levels of BPA have been found in the urine of cashiers who are the most intensively exposed of all. Indeed, we all have levels of this chemical in our bodies. And now similar health concerns are being raised for a BPA substitute Bisphenol S.

Not only are till receipts toxic, they are yet another source of wastepaper, ending up in the bottom of your bag or filling your purse or wallet. The vast majority of the UK’s 11.2 billion printed daily are increasingly unnecessary given the various electronic alternatives.

It’s time to ban the paper receipt in the UK, following the lead of several countries which have banned or severely restricted the use of BPA in receipts.

The petition will be sent to all major UK retailers, the Health and Safety Executive, Secretary of State for Health, the British Retail Consortium and leading breast cancer charities.

PLEASE SIGN HERE   https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-more-poison-in-our-hands-time-for-a-ban-on-all-paper-till-receipts

And please share
Facebook      Twitter

Thank-you.

Helen, Deb & Ho-Chih
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Blog, News

Breast Cancer Now, ASDA & Pink Till Receipts.

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We continue to put pressure on Breast Cancer Now (BCN) to acknowledge environmental and occupational risk factors for breast cancer. As the UK’s leading breast cancer research charity, we argue that it is incomprehensible that they continue to refute the body of evidence that makes just these links.

Just recently, we sent an open letter to both BCN and ASDA with regard to their ‘Tickled Pink’ and ‘Be Your Breast Friend’ campaign concerning breast awareness with pink till receipts as the communication tool. This campaign triggered a number of serious concerns about the use of certain ingredients in the ASDA pink and other till receipts and, linked to this, the various public ‘assurances’ from Breast Cancer Now about the science in relation to ‘chemicals in the environment” ie that there is no link to breast cancer risk.

Those expressing concern (in fact, disbelief) about the ASDA/BCN campaign included leading experts in the area of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Our open letter was co-signed with colleagues from CHEM Trust, Breast Cancer Prevention Scotland (formerly Challenge Breast Cancer Scotland) and The Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group (Derry)

You can read the full letter below:
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Remembering DIANA WARD

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In January 2019 we lost our long-time friend and campaigning comrade, Diana Ward.

Words cannot express our sense of loss at her not being there with and for us, as she has been for more than 25 years.

Di covered so much ground in her writing, activism, art and travels. In all ways, she was an ice-breaker and her analysis on the politics of breast cancer remains as incisive now as it was when she first started out on her journey to bring public awareness and political action to the issue.

It was an honour to work with her and have her as a dear and close friend. She leaves a powerful legacy of speaking truth to power. A legacy that will continue through our work.

We are remembering Di in a number of ways…

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News

Our 2018 Roundup

We had a busy year!

At the start of the year and throughout the Spring, we continued to lobby MPs and Ministers for the UK to stay within EU Chemical regulations after Brexit; we held our annual meeting with leading UK breast cancer research and fundraising charity Breast Cancer Now to argue the long overdue need for them to recognize and act on the scientific evidence linking environmental and occupational links to breast cancer; we took FPTP campaign materials to Labour Conference in September and to end the year, we mounted an ambitious exhibition by our co-founder Diana Ward to mark October ‘Breast Cancer Prevention Month’.

Every day of our lives, from pre-birth to death, we eat, drink, breathe and handle countless numbers of synthetic chemicals. We wear them, we rub them onto our skin and hair, we wash ourselves, our children, our pets, our cars and clothes in them. We sit, sleep, drive, walk and run both in and on them. We spray them on our gardens, our worktops, and into the air in our living and work spaces. We clean our cars, houses, teeth and tools with them. We decorate ourselves and our homes with them. We write, paint and play with them.  This lifelong low-level exposure to hormone disruptors and carcinogens has a health impact.

Diana Ward

Throughout 2018, as part of the Brexit debate, we have been part of the lobby to ensure the UK stays inside the EU Chemical Regulatory regime known as REACH. Helen Hayes MP has been incredibly supportive of our work on this. She hosted our Westminster Portculllis House event ‘Brexit and Breast Cancer’, and submitted a Written Parliamentary Question on this same issue to Secretary of State for the environment Michael Gove on behalf of From Pink to Prevention . In February, we met again with senior staff at Breast Cancer Now to keep the pressure up for them to acknowledge the overwhelming scientific evidence that links environmental and occupational risk to breast cancer and to carry this information in all their public-facing information materials.
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Breast cancer, Event, News

MAKE THE CONNECTION

An Exhibition of Original Work by Diana Ward, marking Breast Cancer ‘Prevention’ Month launched on Wednesday 17 October.

On Wednesday 17 October UNISON hosted with a reception a new exhibition of 23 original cartoon works by From Pink to Prevention co-founder Diana Ward. Diana’s art-work is a unique way into the subject of the politics of breast cancer and it reflects on the decades of scientific evidence linking environmental and occupational risk factors to breast cancer. Continue reading MAKE THE CONNECTION →