President's Cancer Panel Reports on Chemicals and Cancer

May 6, 2010 -- The President’s Cancer Panel released a 200-page report warning the President and the American public about the dangers of environmental and occupational exposures to toxic chemicals. The Panel calls on our country’s leaders to identify environmental carcinogens and rid them from our schools, homes and workplaces.

While long-overdue, the recognition by the Panel that: “the true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated” has been applauded by most in the cancer community and the environmental movement nationwide.

The report highlights the need for more research on the link between environmental toxins and cancer.    Historically, investigating environmental causes has ranked low on the priority list for many of our national cancer organizations.

The Panel’s report also highlights the “dysfunction” within our regulatory system.  Currently, there are 80,000 known chemicals in use in the United States.  Shockingly, only several hundreds of these chemicals have been tested for safety.  

That’s because the burden of proof is placed on the public rather than the companies that manufacture these chemicals.  Instead of assuming a chemical is harmful until proven safe, our system assumes that a chemical is safe until proven harmful.  This process has left Americans exposed to a toxic soup of harmful chemicals every day.

This month, the Safe Chemicals Act was introduced into Congress. This bill will overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act -- the decades-old law that regulates toxic chemical use in this country.  Anyone concerned about chemicals and cancer should write their federal legislators and let them know you want them to support this bill.

 

Read The President's Cancer Panel Report.