Heading to Remote Northern India for the Breast Cancer Fund

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month and with it I kick off my sixth year of fund raising for the Breast Cancer Fund. Since 2007 I have been trekking and climbing to raise money for this worthy organization. Climbing is both a personal endeavor to honor the courage it takes to face breast cancer and a collective effort to prevent it.

In 2007 I climbed Mt. Shasta in California, in 2008 I trekked to the base of Mt. Chomolhari in Bhutan, in 2009 I hiked around Mt. Blanc in the Alps, and then climbed it. In July 2010 my event took me through the wilds of Peru to Machu Picchu and last May I climbed to the top of Kala Patar in Nepal on my way to Everest Base Camp. To date I have raised over $55,000.00 for the Breast Cancer Fund and in July 2012 with my trek north of the Himalayas in Ladakh, I hope to raise another $10,000.00. I pay all my own expenses for the trip so 100% of all donations go to BCF.

In response to the public health crisis the Breast Cancer Fund identifies – and advocates for elimination of – the environmental and other preventable causes of the disease. The BCF’s current priorities are banning bisphenol A (BPA, a chemical linked to breast cancer) from food and beverage containers and working on federal legislation to address the safety of personal care products which are unregulated and often contain cancer causing ingredients.

In the US a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 8 but no more than 1 in 10 women with breast cancer have a genetic history of the disease. Scientific evidence links toxic chemicals and radiation in our everyday environment to the high rates of breast cancer.

We must work to reduce exposures by educating ourselves, taking individual actions, demanding corporate accountability and crafting good public policies. Only through a commitment to primary prevention will we reach a time when fewer people are diagnosed with breast cancer.

To donate to the Breast Cancer Fund go to my web page at

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/goto/marie

For more information go to 
www.breastcancerfund.org


To get a safety rating on personal care products you are using go to
www.safecosmetics.org