The Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project is excited to announce our new free iPhone app that helps you identify healthier choices for everyday items in your shopping cart.  We call it SmartScan and it is the only current app that enables you to Scan a product barcode and go. We are introducing this free on-line mobile application to allow families to immediately learn more about ingredients in the products they consider before they buy them from food to fertilizer to make-up; thus enabling them to make more intelligent choices.

Scan a product barcode and go - it’s easier than ever to know what is in the products you buy. Here is how it works: SmartScan checks ingredients against the SmartScan database of “potentially hazardous substances”, and ingredients that match the blacklist are given a “hazard rating” derived from the NFPA704 standard, California Proposition 65 list with some gaps filled in with Wikipedia resources. If no harmful ingredients are found, an “All Clear” notice is displayed.

“As one of the beneficiaries of last year’s Turkey Trot, our Board of Directors discussed the best use of the funds for the benefit of our community in your ongoing efforts to reach more people quickly with helpful health information, which is a core part of our mission. Instead of printing old-school style flyers, we decided an application for smart phones could better provide quick and easily accessible research on healthy products” commented Theresa Keresztes, Board of Directors with the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project.  The result was an application that is apparently the only app that tells you what ingredients are potentially unsafe or harmful - from the supermarket to the hardware store.

We are pleased with the results and especially impressed with the two former Wellesley High School students; Davis Foster and Nicholas Perretti who worked tirelessly to bring our idea to life completing the app in record time for their Senior project last spring.  We are grateful for their timely efforts, dedication and level of professionalism. “Working with Davis and Nick was like working with seasoned technology consultants whom I have worked with during my career in technology and they are just getting started!  We wish them all the best at the Rochester Institute of Technology where they have begun their Freshman year.” said Linda Griffith, President of the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project.

To download SmartScan to your iPhone or other Apple device and learn more about the app pictured above, you may access it here in the upper right margin of our home page @ www.wcpponline.org

To follow Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project’s health promotion educational programs, please follow us on Twitter @ WCPPOnline or Like us on Facebook. You may also wish to add your name to our mailing list via info@wcpponline.org

Today, “Giving Tuesday,” December 2, 2014, people will come together to support non-profit organizations through their generosity and giving. We at WCPP would like you to consider making either a financial donation or volunteering a few hours of our time in 2015. Since WCPP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation is tax-deductible.

WCCP’s mission is one of education and information-sharing for better health. We support public health initiatives and provide education and information via our website and forums held at the Wellesley Free Library and other venues. Our educational efforts focus on steps you can take to mitigate environmental factors that can impact your family’s health and increase your risk of cancer and other illnesses such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease.

Your help will allow us to reach more families with information and tools that can assist them in improving their health and environment in which we live.

If you wish to volunteer your time for educational, communications, event management, or business development, please send an email to: info@wcpponline.org

To make a tax-deductible donation, please use to this link on our website http://www.wcpponnline.org/index/donate

You can also mail your donation to the following address:

WCPP - PO Box 812387 Wellesley MA 02482

As WCPP completes its 17th year and its 12th year as a 501(c )(3)non-profit organization, we continue to grow our supporter base and have added this year an annual scholarship award for a deserving Wellesley Hight School senior who demonstrates environmental stewardship, working with the Wellesley Scholarship foundation and a free mobile smart phone app called SmartScan, which lets you make more informed buying decisions from food to house cleaning products to personal care items and can be downloaded from the Apple Store through the on our home page or ask us to provide the link on your home page via info@wcpponline.org 

In the coming year WCPP is planning educational forums in March, and May along with several co-sponsored events with our Alliance Partners.

In the meantime have a healthy and happy holiday! Thanks for your continued financial support and your assistance in helping Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project to thrive.

Best to you all,

Linda Griffith, President of Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project (WCPP)