Elizabeth S. Mullen, President/CEO, Women’s Information Network Against Breast Cancer

"Hello, my name is Betsy Mullen; I am the Founder, President and CEO of WIN Against Breast Cancer, a California-based national nonprofit organization and member of Californians for Pesticide Reform.

I am here today because one of the trends focused on in this report has serious public health implications. This trend is the increasing use of carcinogenic pesticides. As a health advocate and breast cancer survivor, I was appalled to learn that we knowingly and legally are increasing the use of cancer causing pesticides in California. This astoundingly high level of use is unacceptable. As carcinogenic pesticide use is increasing, so too, is the age-adjusted incidence of cancers associated with pesticide exposure, including Childhood Leukemia, Brain Tumors, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Testicular Cancer and Breast Cancer.

I grew up in L.A. County and have been a California resident for the last 31 years. I was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly 8 years ago at the age of 33. I had no family history of breast cancer and had done everything right to be healthy and fit -- or so I thought.  

I ran 10 miles a day, and adopted a well-balanced diet that included the oft heralded "Five-a-day" -- plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. A diet, as it turns out, that may have cost me dearly for many reasons. The food that I ingested, the ground that I ran on, the air that I breathed and the state of my health, were all likely impacted by a killer every bit as insidious as cancer -- pesticides.

Breast cancer cost me a breast and my ability to have children, but, in learning to cope with these losses, I gained the drive and determination to work to ensure that what happened to me, does not happen to others.

Shortly after my diagnosis, I was told that I might die in 2 to 3 years. But, I am lucky, and am here today to speak on behalf of the all too many women, children and men who have lost their lives to cancer. Luck should not be a part of the equation. We need to put an end to the cancer epidemic that continues to claim thousands of lives throughout the state of California alone every year. The numbers and facts are staggering.  

The findings outlined in the Hooked on Poison: Pesticide Use in California Report represent the opportunity for the people of Los Angeles County and counties throughout the state to join together to free California from the scourge of cancer-causing pesticides in our environment. California's beautiful landscape, the structures we live and work in and the fruits and vegetables we eat are making us sick and we can do something about it: Five-a-Day Organic. Fruits and vegetables are not the culprit, but rather, the use of known cancer-causing pesticides throughout California is the issue here. Pesticides present not only in the foods that we eat, but also in the air that we breathe, in our groundwater, our soil, our parks, our homes, our workplaces and childrens' schools. Known carcinogenic pesticides are poisoning our food chain, poisoning our environment and wreaking havoc in our bodies.

Organic -- one word that can mean so much to our health and well being.