EPA Honors Breast Cancer Fund for Environmental Achievement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 2, 2010
CONTACT: Shannon Coughlin, 415-336-2246, scoughlin@breastcancerfund.org
Los Angeles—Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest region awarded Breast Cancer Fund President and CEO Jeanne Rizzo with its 2010 Environmental Achievement Award (Green Chemistry category) in recognition of her organization's significant progress in promoting public education and legislative initiatives to ensure that manufacturers make non-toxic products and that consumers make informed purchasing decisions that protect their health and the environment.
The Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization working to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer. The award recognizes Ms. Rizzo's critical role in leading the organization in securing passage of important green chemistry policy initiatives in California and federally, including California laws that created the first statewide biomonitoring program, advanced the safety of cosmetic products and initiated California's green chemistry program. In October 2010, the Breast Cancer Fund issued an important report, State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment, that sheds light on the environmental causes of breast cancer and what public policies are needed to reduce breast cancer risk.
Ms. Rizzo has led the Breast Cancer Fund for nearly a decade, guiding the organization to adopt its bold mission to identify and advocate for the elimination of the environmental causes of the disease. Ms. Rizzo is Council chair of the California Breast Cancer Research Program and is an appointed member of the National Institute of Health Interagency Breast Cancer and Environment Research Coordinating Committee.
Ms. Rizzo was among twelve outstanding Pacific Southwest environmental leaders honored by the EPA today at a ceremony at the Historic Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony, themed "40 Years of Environmentalism," also celebrated the EPA's 40th anniversary.
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The Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization working to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer. www.breastcancerfund.org.
