Alternatives to Pink Press Release

BREAST CANCER ACTION MONTREAL (BCAM) ANNOUNCES “ALTERNATIVES TO PINK”OCTOBER CAMPAIGN

Alternative Perspectives During Breast Cancer Awareness Month

BCAM invites members of the press to their offices at 5890 Avenue Monkland, suite 201 for a press conference announcing the launch of “Alternatives to Pink” on October 6th, 2010 at 10:00 am. A BCAM Board member – and breast cancer victor – will provide a personal position statement and campaign directives. BCAM will provide visual displays and members will be available for interviews.

Breast Cancer Action Montreal (BCAM) believes it's time to move past pink-ribbon shopping to prevent breast cancer. Furthermore, BCAM believes breast cancer research must move beyond its current emphasis on treatment and cure to zero in on the causes of the disease and ways of preventing it. This year BCAM is marking October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, by getting out some facts with its inaugural “Alternatives to Pink” October awareness campaign.

BCAM wants to use Breast Cancer Awareness Month to draw attention to cosmetic manufacturers whose purported interest in bringing an end to breast cancer - through pink cause marketing - conflicts with their continued use of chemicals banned in the European Union and understood to have endocrine disrupting and carcinogenic links.

Throughout the month of October, BCAM will call on these corporations to become signatories to the Compact for Safe Cosmetics through online and email letter campaigns. Signatories commit to: eliminating from all products, chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer; replacing hazardous materials with safer alternatives; conducting an inventory of potential chemicals of concerns in their products; and publicly reporting on their progress in meeting the goals of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The Alternatives to Pink campaign will coincide with the 2010 launch of the State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment, a research document supporting BCAM’s position regarding the causal links of chemicals to breast cancer. Press copies will be available at the press conference.

BCAM also invites the public and members of the press to attend other October campaign activities including a cosmetics-art project, “Art & Act”,  and “Street ACT/ION de la Rue”, a street theatre production pointing out the truth behind pink ribbon campaigns, like the ones used to sell personal care products that contain ingredients linked to breast cancer. Event details will are available on BCAM’s facebook page. 

Breast Cancer Action Montreal (BCAM) is a non-profit activist/advocacy group directed by women who have been sensitized to the trauma of breast cancer and who are committed—long-term—to erasing the disease. The focus of breast cancer research must move beyond its current emphasis on treatment to also embrace a serious search for the causes of the disease and its prevention.
FemmeToxic is a project of BCAM for young women committed to reducing chemicals in cosmetics.

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Contact: Janice Melanson
(514) 483-1846                       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
jmelanson@bcam.qc.ca
www.bcam.qc.ca
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