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Toward a Cancer Free Economy December, 2013

Toward a Cancer Free Economy December, 2013. Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Premise. Our systems of production and consumption are not only root causes of environmental and health problems, but also significant contributors to solutions. . Collaborating partners.

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Toward a Cancer Free Economy December, 2013

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  1. Toward a Cancer Free EconomyDecember, 2013

  2. Lowell Center for Sustainable ProductionPremise • Our systems of production and consumption are not only root causes of environmental and health problems, but also significant contributors to solutions. 

  3. Collaborating partners • Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition (JPNET) • Chuck Collins, Carlos Espinoza-Toro • Lowell Center for Sustainable Production • Dick Clapp, Polly Hoppin, Molly Jacobs • Jamaica Plain Centre-South Main Streets • Mary Hannon • Toxics Action Center • Sylvia Broude, Claire Miller • Funding/technical assistance: Toxics Use Reduction Institute • Joy Onasch

  4. Are we winning? • 1 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the US this year • 13 million people in the U.S. are living with cancer • Direct costs in 2009: $243 billion • Since the 1970’s, billions of dollars spent on cancer research • National Institutes of Health • Volunteer organizations • American Cancer Society • Komen for the cure • Pan Mass Challenge

  5. The trend for all cancers has leveled off and is declining, especially among men MEN BOTH WOMEN

  6. Yet rates of some kinds of cancer are dramatically increasing. These 4 also have well-established environmental causes. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Thyroid Kidney Liver All ages, both sexes

  7. Deaths from childhood cancer have been falling for 35 years… But the numbers of kids getting the disease rises steadily All cancers, <20 years old Rapidly increasing number of cancer survivors All cancer, all children <20 years, U.S. SEER data

  8. Why are cancer rates rising? • It’s not genes • These trends are too rapid • It’s (mostly) not better diagnosis • There have been only modest improvements in cancer diagnosis since the 1970s (e.g. PSA test for prostate cancer). • That leaves environmental causes • Diet, water, air pollution, chemicals in food, indoor environment

  9. The (broken) production cycle of the chemicals economy Chemical production Product manufacturing Oil refining Wholesaling Oil production Retailing Disposal Consumption Lowell Center for Sustainable Production 9/28/13

  10. Carcinogensare released at every step: air, water, soil, food contamination. CANCER CANCER Chemical production CANCER Product manufacturing Oil refining Wholesaling Oil production Retailing Disposal CANCER Consumption CANCER CANCER Lowell Center for Sustainable Production 9/28/13

  11. The production cycle causes cancers. The cancer organizations could intervene more effectively Cancer Organizations • Research on cure • Research on early diagnosis • Patient support • Prevention: healthy behaviors • Prevention: environmental Lowell Center for Sustainable Production 9/28/13

  12. How Cancer Develops • A complex, multi-causal disease • Six or eight “hallmarks” that have to occur before a cell becomes a cancer cell • But, “virtually all cancer is BOTH genetic and environmental” • Factors outside the body cause genetic damage inside the body • Can be multiple exposures that cause a series of genetic changes over many years

  13. Chemicals in the Environment & Workplaces: Part of a Comprehensive Cancer Prevention Strategy

  14. President’s Cancer Panel “The true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated.” The panel recommended “removing carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase healthcare costs, cripple our nation’s productivity and devastate American lives.”

  15. Encouraging words from federal panel “A precautionary prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants in which human harm must be proven before action is taken to reduce or eliminate exposure”

  16. Encouraging words from federal panel “‘Green chemistry’ initiatives and research, including process redesign, should be pursued and supported more aggressively…”

  17. The goal of a cancer free economy can drive innovation Green Chemistry: “Green chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products.” -Anastas and Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, 1998

  18. Some initial steps • Inventory businesses that use cancer-causing substances • Dry cleaners that use PCE (perchloroethylene) • Linked to bladder cancer & NHL • Auto body shops that use degreasing solvents (e.g. TCE (trichloroethylene) and repair asbestos brake shoes • Linked to NHL, leukemia, kidney & liver cancers (TCE), lung cancer & mesothelioma (asbestos) • Nail salons/beauty salons that use formaldehydeand that release from products VOCs (volatile organic compounds) • Linked to leukemia and nasal cancers (formaldehyde) • Promote safer alternatives • Boston Public Health Commission Green & Clean program • TURI wet cleaning processes

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