Protect Our Breasts

Protect Our Breasts From products to packaging, we are tracking the best choices to protect our breasts.

The Protect Our Breasts communication initiative is an interdisciplinary project including marketing, biology, public policy and public health on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. A team of students from across the academic specialties will share what is known and not yet known about the chemicals in everyday products that contribute to breast cancer.

Our mission at Protect Our Breasts, educating about environmental exposures and empowering young people to make safer co...
04/17/2026

Our mission at Protect Our Breasts, educating about environmental exposures and empowering young people to make safer consumer choices, must be paired with strong advocacy for accessible preventive healthcare.

Environmental toxicants and carcinogens don’t exist in a vacuum; they interact with systems of inequity. Without programs like our community clinics providing low-cost cancer screenings, those most affected by environmental risk factors may never get the chance to detect illness early enough to act.

For every person who has depended on a sliding scale screening, for every life saved by early detection, we must continue to fight for a healthcare system that puts people, and prevention, first, regardless of where they seek care or which administration is in power.💚

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“BPA-free” doesn’t automatically mean safe. 🚨BPA substitutes like BPS, BPF, and BPAF are structurally similar to BPA, an...
04/15/2026

“BPA-free” doesn’t automatically mean safe. 🚨

BPA substitutes like BPS, BPF, and BPAF are structurally similar to BPA, and research shows they may disrupt the same hormone systems that control reproductive development.

Swipe to learn why swapping one harmful chemical for another isn’t progress.

“BPA-free” doesn’t automatically mean safe. 🚨BPA substitutes like BPS, BPF, and BPAF are structurally similar to BPA, an...
04/15/2026

“BPA-free” doesn’t automatically mean safe. 🚨

BPA substitutes like BPS, BPF, and BPAF are structurally similar to BPA, and research shows they may disrupt the same hormone systems that control reproductive development.

Swipe to learn why swapping one harmful chemical for another isn’t progress.

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We’re kicking off a new series, “What’s Actually in Your Food”, starting with a college classic: Maruchan Chicken Ramen ...
04/08/2026

We’re kicking off a new series, “What’s Actually in Your Food”, starting with a college classic: Maruchan Chicken Ramen 🍜.

Ever wonder what all those additives really are? We broke it down so you can see what’s in your bowl, where it’s found, and what it actually does. Swipe to see what’s hiding in your go-to munches…

Knowledge = power (and your body will thank you) 💚💚

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04/06/2026

Hi 👋 we have a very important wig-related message for you.

We’re Protect Our Breasts - a student-led program fighting toxic chemicals in everyday products (yes, including synthetic wigs 👀).

We think your bowl cut era and our campaign have more in common than people realize... and we’d love to talk about it.

We’ll be at your Amherst show Friday. See you there! 🎤

**o

“Free-from” claims took over the beauty aisle – but more labels didn’t mean more answers. The “clean beauty” movement gr...
04/04/2026

“Free-from” claims took over the beauty aisle – but more labels didn’t mean more answers. The “clean beauty” movement grew out of a demand for real transparency, with roots in the skin-first traditions of the Asia Pacific region, particularly Korea.

So is K-beauty actually safer? According to EWG’s Skin Deep database, yes – at least by the numbers. In 2023, K-beauty products averaged a safety score of 2.9 out of 10, outperforming the US skincare average of 3.6. And that gap has been widening: K-beauty scores improved by half a point since 2018.

That trend is likely to continue. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has prohibited over 1,040 cosmetic ingredients – a list that is continuously updated as new hazardous substances are identified. In April 2022, Korea added PFAS compounds and persistent organic pollutants to its banned list.

The US FDA, by comparison, has banned or restricted just 11 ingredients at the federal level. As Korea’s regulations tighten, formulas are pushed toward safer ingredient profiles – and that shows up in the scores over time.

But the full picture is more complicated. Not all K-beauty products are free from toxic chemicals – and understanding why some perform better starts with the regulations behind the formulas.
Swipe to see what the data says. 👉
Sources in last slide.

Happy April Fools’… but we’re not joking this time.We’re kicking off a new series, “What’s Actually in Your Food”, start...
04/01/2026

Happy April Fools’… but we’re not joking this time.

We’re kicking off a new series, “What’s Actually in Your Food”, starting with a college classic: Maruchan Chicken Ramen 🍜.

Ever wonder what all those additives really are? We broke it down so you can see what’s in your bowl, where it’s found, and what it actually does. Swipe to see what’s hiding in your go-to munches…💚💚

Toxic chemical exposure isn’t experienced equally – and for many immigrant women in the U.S., the burden is compounded a...
03/30/2026

Toxic chemical exposure isn’t experienced equally – and for many immigrant women in the U.S., the burden is compounded at nearly every turn.

The jobs that are most accessible, the housing that is most affordable, the products that are most available – these often come with higher concentrations of phthalates, antimicrobials, and alkylphenols linked to hormonal disruption and elevated breast cancer risk. Occupations like house cleaning, nursing, caregiving, and retail are among the most common for immigrant women – and among the most chemically intensive.

When language barriers, precarious employment, and structural racism limit your options, exposure becomes harder to avoid and harder to challenge. That’s not individual circumstance. That’s inequity built into the system.

Swipe to see what the research shows. 🔬

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