Thank You for Saying Never to Forever Chemicals

From The Breast Cancer Action Team 

Every October our acclaimed Think Before You Pink^® campaign holds pinkwashing corporations accountable for their role in the breast cancer epidemic. This year, we told 3M to Say Never to Forever Chemicals and in the process we educated tens of thousands of people about the link between PFAS and breast cancer risk. 

Thank you for joining our campaign and pushing back on pinkwashing. Together you helped send thousands of emails to 3M’s executives. Our 25 endorsing partners also helped put pressure on 3M throughout October, many of whom joined our successful Twitterstorm which reached tens of thousands of people. Together we let 3M know that marketing pink ribbon Post-its is meaningless unless they clean up their business and stop profiting from PFAS, which  may increase the risk of breast cancer.

We want to give a tremendous shout out to our endorsing partners for the critical work they do every day, and for supporting our campaign. 

Some highlights from the campaign:

• Check out our op-ed on Medium, “Pinkwashing Post-its: 3M and the PFAS Link to Breast Cancer” co-authored by Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director of Breast Cancer Action and Ken Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group.
• Get more background on this year’s Think Before You Pink campaign on our Breast Cancer Action podcast.
• Listen to another podcast episode featuring Sharon Lerner, an award-winning reporter whose fearless investigative journalism has uncovered intriguing information about 3M and PFAS.
• Hear from people around the country, including Courtney Markham-Abedi, Suzanne Nash, Kara Kenan, Victoria Sittig Hicks, and Loreen Hackett, who share their stories of being exposed to PFAS, the health consequences for themselves and/or their communities, and what they are doing to influence change!

The problems with PFAS aren’t limited to 3M’s pinkwashing. Now that thousands of people have spoken out to oppose 3M’s production, sale, and use of PFAS, the next step is strong regulation to protect public health. Despite evidence of a wide range of health harms, there are still no federal laws or regulations restricting PFAS.

Strong policy is needed to stop breast cancer where it starts! That’s why we’ll continue to focus on eliminating involuntary exposures to hazardous and toxic chemicals in our environment, including PFAS,  that put people at increased risk of breast cancer. Let’s use what we know about forever chemicals to push for systematic change and regulation that will protect future generations and end the breast cancer epidemic!