What You Can Do

Get Informed and Take Action

These are some actions you can take – as a citizen, as a consumer and as a worker and most likely all three! For background information as to why you need to take action check out our Questions and Answers page, the scientific evidence and the latest facts. This is all about stopping breast cancer before it starts, it’s time to make it happen.

What you can do as a citizen:

  • The personal is political. Take the time to voice your opposition, by using social media, writing to companies and decision makers.
  • Lobby your government and its representatives to get primary prevention for breast cancer on the political agenda and have targeted action in all cancer plans.
  • Call for the precautionary principle to be enforced for all substances shown, known or suspected of being MERCs.
  • Tackle misinformation, remind the cancer establishment that primary prevention is not detection and that breast cancer is down to more than so called ‘lifestyle factors’.
  • Call for primary prevention to receive an equal proportion of expenditure along with better treatment, safer detection and care.
  • Follow the money and ensure your donation is spent on the things you want to see funded.
  • Demand safer alternatives and full disclosure on chemicals and substances used in products, in your home and workplace.
  • Call for recognition that breast cancer is also a social, economic and life circumstance disease and not all down to ‘lifestyle risk factors’.
  • Campaign for local, national, international strategies/plans for the primary prevention of breast cancer. We need a global action plan.
  • Support the EDC free campaign.
  • Demand the From Pink to Prevention’s BEST Option!

What you can do as a consumer:

  • As far as possible be an informed consumer. Remember you can vote with your purse.
  • For cooking and storing food use natural materials such as glass and stainless steel – for microwaving use glass – avoid plastics.
  • Eating lower on the food chain is better for your health. Organic, locally grown and seasonal food is the best option for the health of you, your family, your community and for workers.
  • Organically certified cosmetics are the best choice for your health, in the UK certification is by the Soil Association, in the EU through the COSMOS Standard, in Australia – Austorganic, also consider using less and making your own.
  • Pay attention to what is in the products you buy — to check out cosmetics ingredients here and here.
  • Use the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN)’s Careful Beauty Checklist .
  • Choose natural materials for your home and garden.
  • Don’t buy clothes that need to be dry cleaned or opt for wet cleaning.
  • Check out Project Nesting website for information on baby care, safe toys, renovation, and food.
  • If you can’t avoid buying plastic, avoid PVC and polycarbonate marked with a triangle containing numbers 3 or 6.
  • Freshen your home by opening the windows or with essential oils, avoid toxic air fresheners and synthetic plug in fragrance emitters.
  • Be a green gardener – avoid pesticides, fungicides and insect killers in your home and garden.
  • Choose natural fibres for clothing such as organic cotton, wool, hemp or bamboo, also recycle, upcycle and reuse.
  • Reduce your consumption and waste by avoiding over packaging, and using cloth shopping bags where possible.

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What you can do as a worker:

  • Ensure proactive enforcement of existing health and safety legislation such as COSHH and the International Labour Standards on Occupational safety and health.
  • Be your own workplace detective and identify chemicals, substances, processes and practices of concern in your workplace.
  • Workplace exposures should be seen as a preventable risk factor for breast cancer.
  • All workers should have an occupational passport which contains their full, detailed workplace histories.
  • Demand that your union lobby for compensation for women who develop breast cancer after working in jobs where they are exposed to chemicals, substances or practices linked to breast cancer.
  • Try some barefoot mapping of your workplace to identify the hazards.
  • Call on your government representatives and Trade Unions to review their approach to occupational breast cancer.
  • More research and action in workplaces consider as ‘safe’ for women but where they will be exposed to MERCs linked to breast cancer.
  • Work with your union to take action on Putting Breast Cancer out of Work.
  • Join a trade union, become a safety rep, take action for change.
  • Along with workplace breast cancer awareness workshops ask for breast cancer prevention cancer training.
  • Be breast aware. Get your union to donate to breast cancer primary prevention initiatives not just ‘awareness’ information.
  • Take action on green procurement and purchasing in your workplace.

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Want to learn more about Pinkwashing?

Recommended reading

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Stopping Breast Cancer Before It Starts. From Pink to Prevention asks breast cancer charities, government and industry to act upon the evidence linking environmental and occupational links to breast cancer.