BCAQ—Memories

For a number of years I had been involved in Habitat for Humanity because my son needed a driver to get to the meetings and worksites. Now he was done volunteering, and I was looking for something new. Nancy, who had connected with BCAM after her BC diagnosis, said that it would fit nicely with my environmental concerns—and they had great potlucks!

I joined BCAM, then became a board member, and eventually took on the presidency for a few years.

In June of 2005, I went to the World Conference on Breast Cancer. Madeleine Bird was presenting the research on pink ribbon marketing she’d done for us when Barbara Brenner needed Canadian info for a public lecture that she was giving for BCAM. We met the amazing team from the Breast Cancer Fund—and it was a game changer for me!

Here was a way to make information about the health issues resulting from exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and other toxicants accessible. And so BCAM’s Safe Cosmetics Campaign was born.

It proved to be a great way to get the message out about the management of chemical policy and how it affected our health. Following our success with this vehicle, both the Suzuki Foundation and Environmental Defense started safe cosmetics campaigns.

Today the federal government is finally showing signs that they believe that the industry needs to be regulated by someone other than itself. Only about 13% of the ingredients used have been tested for safety and, despite labeling laws that have been in place for a decade, there continue to be ingredients in our cosmetic and personal care products that are not listed because they are considered trade secrets.