What the Pink?! Protecting the Breasts You Love

September 2, 2015 @ 10:00am (AKDT)

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On this call, experts discussed the breast cancer movement, the science linking toxic environmental chemicals and breast cancer, and prioritizing prevention through policy reform. On this call we will explore a range of topics, including the importance of democratizing the science, a recent study conducted by Silent Spring Institute on a new approach to identify chemicals that raise the risk of breast cancer and the importance of reforming the country’s outdated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Our goal is to inspire you to make choices that eliminate contaminants linked to cancer from your home and community. We also hope you will join the many breast cancer prevention advocates across the country who are working for public policies to reduce the risks of breast cancer.

Featured speakers

Nancy Buermeyer, Breast Cancer Fund
As senior policy strategist at the Breast Cancer Fund, Nancy has spurred real progress on reforming of our woefully outdated federal chemical regulations so that public health and the environment are protected. Nancy draws on 25 years of experience as a policy strategist and lobbyist, and has played a key role in shifting the landscape on crucial public health and civil rights issues including environmental health, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights and women in the military. As a leading figure in the movement to strengthen laws governing synthetic chemicals, Nancy lobbied for one of the Breast Cancer Fund’s biggest victories: a 2009 federal ban on phthalates in children’s toys. She has also successfully advocated for increased federal funding of biomonitoring and health tracking programs. Nancy received a B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.S. in biological oceanography from the University of Connecticut.

Karuna Jaggar, Breast Cancer Action
Karuna holds a Master’s degree in Economic Geography from UC Berkeley, with a special emphasis on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and received her BA in Philosophy from Smith College. Karuna is an alumna of the Women’s Policy Institute, a program of the Women’s Foundation of California. Karuna is an unapologetic patient advocate for loved ones who have undergone treatment for breast cancer. She is the parent of two daughters and aunt to two nieces, all between the ages of 7 and 10.

Janet Ackerman, Silent Spring Institute
Janet Ackerman has a background in biochemistry and biology. She is currently working with collaborators at UC Berkeley and EPA to develop chemical testing methods relevant to breast cancer. Since starting at Silent Spring Institute in 2010, she has also worked on projects related to measuring mammary carcinogens in people’s bodies, understanding the impact of early life exposures on breast development and breast cancer risk, reducing exposures to endocrine disruptors from food packaging, and characterizing groundwater pollution from endocrine disruptors in wastewater. Before starting at Silent Spring Institute, Ackerman contributed to research on pathogens in Boston-area waterways with the Mystic River Watershed Association. She has also investigated breakdown of dry-cleaning solvents in Florida groundwater and strategies for control of invasive plants in California.

Pamela Miller, Alaska Community Action on Toxics
Pam found ACAT in 1997 and serves as principal investigator of a research team that includes faculty from four universities. She is a leader in Coming Clean, a national network of groups concerned about chemicals policy reform, and in the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. She is one of the world’s foremost experts concerning the toxic pesticide lindane. She was instrumental in prompting the 2006 decision to withdraw agricultural products containing lindane from the U.S., the 2010 decision to phase out uses of endosulfan, and the 2011 decision to ban endosulfan worldwide under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. She was elected as the only American on the Steering Committee for the International POPs Elimination Network. Pam is known for her work to prompt state, national, and international chemicals policy reform to protect environmental and human health in the Arctic. She was selected as a fellow for the Reach the Decision Makers program from the University of California San Francisco, Reproductive Health and Environment Program; was invited to participate in an unprecedented White House Forum on Environmental Justice; and selected to serve on an environmental justice advisory group for the Centers for Disease Control. She holds a master’s degree in environmental science from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

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