Proud to be Canadian Today

Today Canada became the first nation in the world to officially list BPA as toxic.  This is why I'm thrilled:

About five years ago, I saw my first pink Tic Tac container.  I thought, wow, bubblegum flavoured Tic Tacs? Cool.  But no.  Tic Tac was helping me become Breast Cancer aware by making their container pink.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to Breast Cancer survivors when I say this, but my first thought was, "Really?!?  And how much cancer does this stupid pink package cause?"  At the time I didn't know, but I was pretty sure, with my limited scientific knowledge, that something in that container (product, label, glue, ink, preservative, or--as it turns out--leeching chemicals from the plastic itself) was bound to have a detrimental affect on a person's health.

I'll even come out of the closet and say I've had trouble giving money to Run For A Cure and other cancer-benefiting fundraisers in the past.  It always seemed to me that these things were looking for a cure and I just wanted to tear my hair out.  How about we prevent it?  We already know that exhaust fumes, pesticides and smoking cause cancer.  How about we stop doing some of that?

Now I'll also admit that I am firmly imprinted with that particular shade of pink that tells me I should be Breast Cancer Aware.  It's a nice shade of pink and what girl doesn't want a pretty pink hardhat or a blushing stapler on their desk?  I even got it free of charge in my Sunday comics this weekend, but I don't really understand what to do with all this awareness this pink campaign is promoting.  Do I run out and give money to Breast Cancer Funds?  Why?  I just feel hostile when I see it because it seems the height of gall to me that companies purporting to want to help use CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICALS to tell everyone we have a problem.

Maybe that's just me.

We took a great step toward curing cancer today--with little fanfare and good ol' preventative action.

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