California Legislators Consider Bill to Establish First-Ever State Biomonitoring Program at April 30 Hearing

Breast Cancer Fund
Thursday, 24 April 2003

SB 689 Calls for Program to Measure the Levels of Synthetic Chemicals in People in Order to Understand Environmental Links to Diseases

The California Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hold a hearing in Sacramento on April 30 on SB 689, a bill that will establish the first-ever state biomonitoring program in the U.S.

Biomonitoring, a type of research that measures the "pollution in people" by analyzing blood, urine, fatty tissue or breast milk samples for synthetic chemicals, is an essential tool in understanding how environmental factors are linked to unusually high rates of disease. Diseases such as cancer, autism, asthma and birth defects have risen at startling rates in recent years, and mounting evidence links incidence and severity of these diseases to environmental toxicants.

The data produced through biomonitoring can support efforts to improve public health by indicating trends in chemical exposures; identifying disproportionately affected and particularly vulnerable communities; linking environmental exposures and pollution-related disease; assessing the effectiveness of current regulations; and setting priorities for legislative and regulatory action. Biomonitoring research can help scientists, medical professionals and community members understand the effects of environmental contaminants on human health.

SB 689 will establish the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program and calls for the design and implementation of a series of pilot programs -- beginning with breast milk monitoring -- in economically, racially and geographically diverse communities throughout the state to inform the creation of a permanent biomonitoring program in California. The bill, which will institute a one cent tax increase per pack of cigarettes to fund the program, was introduced by Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chair Deborah Ortiz and sponsored by The Breast Cancer Fund and Commonweal.

"Biomonitoring is the next logical, critical step for us to take in addressing threats to public health. Our technology and science at this time in history offer us the tools to identify environmental agents so that we can craft the best public health strategy to enable a better quality of life," said Senator Deborah Ortiz, Chair of the California Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "It is my hope that this research can lead to more deliberate decision-making as we tackle chronic diseases and cancers that are pervasively and frighteningly invading our families and personal lives."

The first pilot programs established by SB 689 will focus on community-based biomonitoring using breast milk as a marker of community health. The breast milk monitoring programs will develop educational materials and conduct outreach activities that emphasize the importance of breastfeeding to community participants. Breast milk monitoring has long been an important priority for breast cancer advocacy groups, because breast milk reflects toxic contamination of the target organ for breast cancer. Because chemicals accumulate in the fatty tissue of the breast, breast milk monitoring provides information on the toxins a woman has been exposed to over many years. Biomonitoring studies have detected more than 200 toxic substances in breast milk, including flame retardants, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and other pesticides.

"Tracking toxic chemicals in our breasts and bodies is critical to preventing breast cancer and other diseases," said Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of The Breast Cancer Fund. "A comprehensive biomonitoring program will allow us to identify the cancer-causing chemicals that exist in different communities around the state, and act to remove these toxic contaminants. We believe the state of California can be a leader for the rest of the country by establishing this program in response to a variety of environmental health and environmental justice concerns, including breast cancer."

Chronic disease has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. and several chronic diseases and conditions -- including cancer, asthma, autism, birth defects and Parkinson's disease -- have risen at dramatic rates in recent years. Breast cancer rates have nearly tripled since World War II, and more than half a million Americans were estimated to die of cancer in 2002 alone.

Recently, a growing body of scientific evidence has suggested that synthetic chemicals and toxicants in the environment are responsible for the rise in disease incidence. Over 85,000 synthetic chemicals have been introduced into the environment since World War II, yet more than 90 percent of these chemicals have never been tested for their effects on human health. Many of those that have been tested are linked to mammary tumors in laboratory experiments.

"With the increasing rates of chronic and acute diseases and the mounting evidence linking these diseases to environmental factors, it is critical that we begin to study the relationship between personal pollution and health," said Sharyle Patton, director of the Commonweal Health and Environment Program. "Biomonitoring research can dramatically improve public health by indicating trends in chemical exposures and helping the scientific community to understand the effects of environmental toxicants on human health."

There has been very limited research in the U.S. to determine levels of contaminants in humans, often called "body burden studies." Successful passage of SB 689 will make California the first state in the nation to establish such a program. Germany and Sweden have national breast milk monitoring programs, and recently the CDC released the first and second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals in 2001 and 2003. The 2003 report, which analyzed blood and urine samples of 10,000 Americans, found the presence of 116 environmental chemicals.

For more information, or to contact Breast Cancer Fund, see their website at: www.breastcancerfund.org