President's Cancer Panel Says Chemicals Do Cause Cancer

Have you heard? Chemicals in our environment can cause cancer!

I don't mean to sound so excited about what is frankly bad news: A government-issued report evaluates current scientific evidence (based on testimony from 45 experts) and concludes that:

1. The risk of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated.

2. Kids are especially at risk for cancer due to environmental contaminants and should be protected.

3. We must have stronger regulation for environmental contaminants and protection of human health.

4. Safer alternatives to many currently used chemicals are urgently needed.

But as Richard Denison, PhD, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund says (in his own blog post), "The report is remarkable not so much for its core finding that chemical exposures are a major factor in human cancer, but rather because of its source - an authoritative and bipartisan body -- and because of the strong linkages it makes to our failed chemicals policies." In fact, the President's Cancer Panel, established in 1971, is a group of three distinguished experts who review America's cancer program and report directly to the president. It's about as far as you can get from the acupuncture-loving fringe of modern medicine. Not hating on acupuncture there, you understand, just letting you know that these guys are far from radical conspiracy theorists; The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof describes them as "mission control of mainstream scientific and medical thinking." So while the news is grim to be sure, the report itself represents a positive step forward in the fight to strengthen our country's chemical policy and protect our kids' health.

Want to know what you can do to help? Tell your Congressperson to support the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, which would overhaul the riddled-with-loopholes Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

On the next page, learn how you can protect yourself and your family.