This year, BCAM is getting a jumpstart on prevention. We're scheduling our 'Prevention is the Cure' march in September in order to get publicity about our message, rather than getting lost in the hype surrounding Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

To that end, we will be marching on Saturday, September 16th, meeting at and leaving from Norman Bethune Square (intersection of Guy and de Maisonneuve) at 2 p.m. The time and location were chosen to get as many people and as much publicity as possible.

We are also adding a new theme to the march. BCAM is about to launch a campaign for safer cosmetics and personal care products. As of November 1st, these products must be labeled with a list of ingredients but these lists cannot assure us that the ingredients are not potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic.

We invite each of you to come to the march with a container (empty or partially used — it doesn't matter) from a personal care product or cosmetic that you are using or have used. We'll collect these in our "toxic waste" can as a way of bringing attention to the necessity for Canadian manufacturers, like their European Union counterparts, to eliminate chemicals that are known or suspected carcinogens from the products we apply to our bodies.

We'll follow a route taking us to the YWCA on René Lévesque, where organic refreshments will be served. Women's health activist and BCAM member Abby Lippman will be rallying the crowd, and comedienne DeAnne Smith, co-founder of Comedy on the Main (Montreal's only weekly, alternative stand-up show) will perform.

We are a small organization, but we have a big job to do. All of us at BCAM believe that breast cancer doesn't have to happen. Join us on this important march, and let's get some attention paid to prevention. Ensuring the safety of products we use on a daily basis is something that needs to happen; we will act as a reminder that now is the time to start.