Call the FDA Wednesday, Aug 24

Hello! This is a special nationwide Breast Cancer Action e-alert. Together, we
have a great opportunity to do something, besides worry, about breast cancer.

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Take Action: Call the FDA Wednesday, August 24, to Protect Women's Health

We are asking our members to take action by calling the FDA on Wednesday, August 24,
to voice their concerns about the silicone breast implant approval applications.

As you may know, on July 28, the FDA announced its intent to approve the Mentor
Corporation's silicone breast implants, despite the lack of safety data presented.

It is time to turn up the heat on FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford and his boss,
Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt. So on Wednesday, August 24, we
would like your help for a national phone-in protest.

On Wednesday, August 24, we want all our activists to call the FDA and HHS. If we
can flood their switchboards with calls from concerned women and men, we may be able
to convince these public health officials to listen to the FDA's own professional
staff, which has opposed approval of the implants.

We are asking you to make two toll-free phone calls, one to FDA Commissioner
Crawford’s office and one to HHS Secretary Leavitt’s office, to voice your
objections to FDA approval for silicone breast implants. A sample script you can
use is below. And please spread the word to your friends and families to make calls
too!


Phone Numbers:

FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester Crawford: 1-888-463-6332; then press option 3 “contact
employee” and ask the operator for Lester Crawford’s office.

For HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt: 1-877-696-6775; an operator will answer and ask for
the Office of the Secretary


Sample script:

I am calling to voice my concern that the FDA has expressed its intent to approve
silicone breast implants made by the Mentor Corporation--despite the lack of safety
data and despite serious allegations that the company misrepresented safety
information.

The FDA must reject Mentor and Inamed’s (pronounced in-a-med) pre-market
applications.

Both companies provided only 2-3 years of data about implant rupture for a product
that women will rely on for the rest of their lives.

Safety must come first!

Approval of silicone breast implants based on such limited data will undermine the
integrity of FDA as the defender of public health.

I urge the FDA to stand up for women’s health and reject both of these
applications to sell silicone breast implants.

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After you make the calls, please email us at takeaction [at] bcaction.org to tell us you
made the call and what the response was.

Thank you for taking action as FDA's decision day approaches.


That's it for this edition. Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions or comments about this listserve. Thanks for your continued support of
BCA. Until next time,

Pauli Ojea, Community Organizer
Toll free at 877-2STOPBC (278-6722)
http://www.bcaction.org
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org

Our members are the driving force behind our efforts to end the breast
cancer epidemic. Because Breast Cancer Action does not accept funding from
the government or the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, we need
your support. You can donate on-line at
http://bcaction.org/Pages/SupportUs/Donate.html, or call 415-243-9301, or
toll-free at 1-877-278-6722. All gifts are deeply appreciated.

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Breast Cancer Action is funded in part by a grant from the California Wellness
Foundation (TCWF). Created in 1992 as an independent, private foundation, TCWF's
mission is to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for
health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention programs.