By Kim Irish, BCAction Program Manager

What’s in that ice cream you’re eating? Or the cheese that’s on your sandwich? In fact, what’s in your milk? Ironically it’s not just milk, and that may surprise you. All over the country, we’re being exposed to recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), an artificial growth hormone given to dairy cows to stimulate milk production. All this exposure despite the fact that rBGH has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer, obesity, and diabetes, and that’s only what is does to humans.

rBGH also increases the development of mastitis in dairy cows which in turn leads to an increased use of antibiotics which also end up in our milk supply! My biggest beef about all of this (no pun intended)? You won’t find this information on the label of a single dairy product using milk treated with rBGH. We need to get this junk out of our food supply once and for all. rBGH is banned in the European Union, corporate giants like Starbucks refuse to use it, and Wal-Mart won’t put their brand label on dairy products sourced from rBGH cows.

Those in favor of keeping rBGH in in our food chain claim it’s not harmful. Yet the science proves that we have reasons for concern. rBGH increases the production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) which circulates in cows’ blood and then enters their milk. Research shows that when it’s present in the human body at elevated levels, IGF-1 increases the risk of breast, colon, prostate and other cancers. In fact, one study indicates that women with the highest fifth of IGF-1 levels have a 28% higher risk of breast cancer than women in the lowest fifth.

There are numerous ways we could address this problem. We’ve tried the individual manufacturer-by-manufacturer approach (see our successful “Yoplait: Put a Lid on It” campaign). But approaching companies one by one takes a lot of time, and meanwhile millions of people are still being exposed to rBGH. It’s time we go straight to the source of the hormone itself.

Eli Lilly is the only company in the world that makes and distributes rBGH (under the drug name Posilac). Our efforts to get rBGH out of the food supply have to focus on them. We must protect everyone’s health, especially vulnerable groups like low-income communities who may not have the choice of whether to buy rBGH-free dairy products and children and pregnant women whose bodies are more susceptible to harmful environmental toxins.

And the more you know about Eli Lilly, the uglier it gets. Eli Lilly makes a lot of money from breast cancer all in the name of improving women’s health outcomes. At Breast Cancer Action we call that pinkwashing! In fact, Eli Lilly has a highly lucrative profit cycle in place that is going to keep making them money as long as breast cancer is around. They manufacture rBGH, which has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, they manufacture Evista to “prevent” breast cancer, and they produce Gemzar to treat the disease. Really? And they proudly assert their core values of “integrity, excellence, and respect for people.” How does manufacturing a growth hormone that may increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer demonstrate “integrity”? How does it show “excellence”? How is it a declaration of “respect for people”?

We want Eli Lilly to sign our Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing and commit to:

1. Taking all necessary action to ensure that the products they make do not put people at increased risk for breast cancer.
2. Follow the precautionary principle and stop making rBGH and any other products that are suspected of harming human health.
3. Never engaging in pinkwashing by producing, selling, or endorsing products in the name of breast cancer that themselves are linked to the disease and put women at increased risk for developing breast cancer.

Help build on the momentum activists have been creating for years through direct corporate campaigning, national education efforts, media attention, and a Milking Cancer video (which was recently featured in the film Pink Ribbons, Inc.).

Demand that Eli Lilly stop making rBGH and sign BCAction’s Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing.

For too long, cosmetics companies have made personal care products that are bad for our health. And many of the harmful chemicals in products aren’t listed on the labels.

We see mercury in face cream, lead in lipstick, and formaldehyde in baby shampoo. Why are they there at all? We shouldn’t be exposed to harmful chemicals when we’re taking care of our bodies.

Join thousands of women who have been demanding this change for over 20 years and tell Congress that we need stronger cosmetics regulations to protect our health.

Your action today can make a difference in the lives of women tomorrow. As Congress prepares to reconsider the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, they need to hear from you.

Tomorrow, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing entitled “Examining the Current State of Cosmetics” – the first hearing of its kind in over 30 years. Elected officials will consider current regulations, weaknesses that allow personal care products to contain harmful ingredients, and recommendations for the future. Cosmetics industry officials are expected to turn out in droves. We want to make sure that our voices are heard too.

Cosmetics companies are used to getting their way because money talks. But together, we can shout louder. Demand that women’s health comes before corporate profits. Demand a change. Contact the Subcommittee members today and tell them you want stronger regulation of personal care products.

By Robyn Stoetzel, R.N., BCAction member

Does the name Charlotte Haley sound familiar to you? Until recently, I had no idea who she was, despite being a former oncology nurse. I’ve spent my life alongside women diagnosed with breast cancer. And yet Charlotte’s story was completely unknown to me.

Charlotte Haley should be one of the most famous women in the world. Everyone touched by breast cancer should know her story.

Charlotte created a peach ribbon in 1990 that she attached to postcards asserting “The National Cancer Institute’s annual budget is $1.8 billion, only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.”

Charlotte inspired me. Not just because she took action and raised her voice against a giant like the NCI but because she refused to sell out when Self magazine and Estee Lauder wanted to use her peach ribbon as a promotional tool during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

She refused because she wanted to motivate people like you and me to take action to stop breast cancer before it starts. She recognized that they had a different agenda, one that was about marketing cosmetics, not preventing breast cancer. Unable to get Charlotte’s permission, they found another color for the ribbon, a color that was “soothing, comforting, quieting”—all the things breast cancer is not.

The story of how the peach ribbon turned pink is one every woman concerned about ending the breast cancer epidemic should know. And it’s the reason you should read it for yourself.

How did I find out about Charlotte Haley? I downloaded a Think Before You Pink® Toolkit that inspired me to do more to address and end this epidemic.

If the story of Charlotte Haley shocks you, be prepared for a lot more shocking information when you download your own Think Before You Pink Toolkit here for free.

And the Think Before You Pink Toolkit isn’t simply full of shocking truths. It is filled with ways each of us can take action to address and end this breast cancer epidemic. It’s full of questions to ask and answers to give. It saved me hours of research and provided an alternative viewpoint about breast cancer I wasn’t getting anywhere else.

Charlotte Haley took action because she wanted to protect her family and close friends—too many of whom were being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Take up Charlotte Haley’s mantle. Download your free Think Before You Pink Toolkit.

Together we can take back this breast cancer movement and make it about women’s health and putting patients first rather than shopping and corporate profits.

Executive Director Karuna Jaggar

By Karuna Jaggar, BCAction Executive Director

How do you turn a tide? How do you change a whole movement? How do you convince multitudes of people that to do great good, we need to make great change?

You take the lessons and wisdom from a decade of campaigning, put it in a toolkit, and give it to everyone you know.

I want you to have the Think Before You Pink Toolkit so we can all make the change we believe in. We’re giving this toolkit away for free because we think the information it contains is that important. Samantha King, Gayle Sulik and Barbara Brenner, leaders and pioneers in breast cancer activism, already have their toolkit and here’s what they have to say:

• “The Think Before You Pink Toolkit gives both seasoned agitators and newcomers to breast cancer activism vital resources to change the conversation about breast cancer. Don’t delay any longer! Download it today and start changing the world, one pinkwasher at a time.”
  -Samantha King, Ph.D., author of Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy

• “…BCAction’s Think Before You Pink Toolkit is a shining example of how to move beyond the superficial awareness that pink has come to represent. It encourages attentiveness, conscious knowledge, and actions that promote systemic change. It moves beyond simple awareness. It speaks louder than pink. We can, too.”
  -Gayle Sulik, Ph.D., author of Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health

• “Breast Cancer Action’s Think Before You Pink® campaign has been a force to be reckoned with for over 10 years. The Think Before You Pink Toolkit is a practical guide that educates women about what’s really going on every time you see a pink ribbon. But more importantly, the toolkit gives individual people tools to create change. We make change because we demand it. Here’s your chance. Have at it.”
  -Barbara Brenner, J.D., former executive director of Breast Cancer Action, health activist, and blogger who is featured in the upcoming film Pink Ribbons, Inc.

Download the Think Before You Pink Toolkit today and invite you friends to get their toolkit, too. Join me, Samantha King, Gayle Sulik and Barbara Brenner in making the changes we need to challenge pinkwashing and put women’s health before corporate profits.

Without watchdogs like you and me, women’s health gets hijacked by political and corporate agendas. We’ve seen it time and time again.

So get your free toolkit and start demanding change. You’ll be in good company.

“There is a thin line between raising money for a good cause and using a good cause to raise money.”

On February 1st, many of us lost our faith in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Komen had just pulled its funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the few places for women to receive low-cost breast cancer screenings. Women across the country spoke out in surprise and disbelief. One of my aunts wrote on her Facebook page, “If this is true I am shocked!”

Komen has raised billions of dollars for breast cancer research and rallied millions of women through their Race for The Cure. If I were to march, I would honor both of my grandmothers, an aunt, and my mom, all survivors of this brutal disease.

If I were to march…

Sometimes I wish I could walk out my fear about what doctors like to call my “high-risk profile.” I’d love to race away the pain of watching my mom grow thin, lose her hair and strength, struggle with a body-shocking drug regime to keep cancer away after she’d already lived through chemo and radiation.

When my mom was diagnosed six years ago, she didn’t have insurance. She had to leave the U.S. to afford treatment because no insurance company would cover her “pre-existing condition.”

I searched for answers and support for our family.

Komen’s website had some good tips for the recently diagnosed, but the emphasis on pink products made this disease I knew to be brutally difficult and real into something cutesy and sterile.

My suspicions aroused, I started wondering where the profits went and found that the closer I looked, the murkier the picture became. Some of Komen’s 195 corporate partners seemed dubious (more on that below) and Komen’s complete silence on the corrupt pharmaceutical industry and the broken healthcare system left me wondering whose side they were really on.

Then, I found Breast Cancer Action. BCAction is bold, smart, and does not accept any money from pharmaceutical companies. As they say in their corporate contributions policy:

“BCA cannot be bought, influenced, or discouraged from its mission to eradicate breast cancer.”

BCAction puts patients before profits. They talk about the pharmaceutical industry’s deliberate attempt to turn a buck on breast cancer patients. Their advocacy against Avastin for breast cancer is one of many examples of their advocacy to put patients first.

BAction also calls on other breast cancer organizations, including Komen, to keep hazardous chemicals out of the products they support.

There is a thin line between raising money for a good cause and using a good cause to raise money. Komen has increasingly endorsed “pink” products that contain known carcinogens, such as fried chicken and the toxic chemicals in their “Promise Me” perfume. They defend these decisions because of the dollars they bring in.

But at what cost?

In the past three weeks, Komen has shown its true colors. Their de-funding (and then re-funding) of Planned Parenthood was the tip of the iceberg. The exorbitant expenses paid out to the executive director, ties to partisan political agendas, and lack of transparency are red flags. However, as BCAction has shown, Komen has also repeatedly chosen to raise money from products that cause harm. This is unacceptable.

Now is the time to call on Komen to walk the talk.

It is up to us. We must continue to demand scientific facts, not political maneuvering. We must insist on compassion over cash flow. We must demand accountability and call on Komen to stop raising money with shady endorsement. They should sign the Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing and make a clear statement of commitment to transparency.

Breast Cancer Action is the best vehicle I have found for demanding meaningful action on these issues.

We need more visibility and resources to stop the epidemic of breast cancer. But we don’t need more pinkwashing.

Kellea Miller joined the board of Breast Cancer Action in 2010. She can be found at kelleamiller.com.

“If people actually knew what was happening, they would be really pissed off.”

Billions of dollars have been raised through the tireless efforts of women and men devoted to putting an end to breast cancer. Yet, breast cancer rates in North America have risen to 1 in 8. “What’s going on?” asks our former Executive Director Barbara Brenner in Pink Ribbons, Inc. a new film now playing across Canada and debuting in the U.S. this year. 

The Toronto International Film Festival says: “Léa Pool’s devastating documentary about the industry and “culture” around breast cancer, addresses the rise of corporate involvement in fund-raising for charities … and the impact it has had on research into the disease. Powerful and incendiary, the film is an important and timely piece from one of our finest filmmakers.”

Thank you, Léa Pool, from the bottom of our pink ribbon-fatigued hearts, for making this movie. We need powerful. We need incendiary.

This film has been a long time coming. Based on Samantha King’s brilliant book of the same name, Pink Ribbons, Inc. pulls back the pink curtain on why we aren’t making progress in ending this epidemic. It’s a curtain we’ve been tugging on for over a decade through our Think Before You Pink® campaign, where we encourage people to ask critical questions about breast cancer fundraising. We are thrilled to see this message go mainstream.

Pink Ribbons, Inc. also shines a much-needed spotlight on pinkwashing, a coin we termed to describe when a company or organization claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease.

Breast cancer has become big business—corporations look good by associating themselves with breast cancer, but how much does their involvement benefit women? As one woman living with metastatic breast cancer says in the film, “Our disease is being used for people to profit. And that’s not OK.”

This movie is a potential game-changer, showing just how much the shiny pink status quo has cost us—and how little we’ve gained from it. As an advocate says in the film, “For people to finally rise up and object, they have to be aware of the lies they’re being fed.”

Pink Ribbons, Inc. is debuting at film festivals in the U.S. this spring and we’ll keep you posted on where and when you can see it in theatres. In the meantime, get your free copy of our brand new Think Before You Pink Toolkit, which is a perfect companion to the film and, says, Samantha King, “gives both seasoned agitators and newcomers to breast cancer activism vital resources to change the conversation about breast cancer. Download it today and start changing the world, one pinkwasher at a time.”

When it comes to breast cancer, profits far too often are priority number one. This toolkit helps advocates like you challenge the status quo and make sure women at risk of and living with breast cancer come first.

• March 8, 2012 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Evanston, IL
• March 18, 2012 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Petaluma, CA
• March 28, 2012 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Huntington, NY
• March 29, 2012 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – San Francisco, CA
• April 12-22 - Pink Ribbons Inc. Screening – Washington, D.C.
• April 13-22 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Sarasota, FL
• April 18 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Madison, WI
• April 19-26 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Nashville, TN
• April 21 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Philadelphia, PA
• April 25 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening - Hayward, CA
• May 10-19 – Pink Ribbons, Inc. Screening – Santa Cruz, CA

Komen’s True Colors Revealed

“Susan G. Komen’s recent decision to deny funding to Planned Parenthood inadvertently exposed the right wing foundation that lies solidly under Komen’s pink ribbon cover. The betrayal of women and women’s health is outrageous but not new. The Komen Foundation’s funding to Planned Parenthood provides vital breast cancer screening and breast health education services to low-income, underserved populations, many in rural communities where Planned Parenthood may be their only source of health care. The Foundation denies political motivation, but defunding these programs would harm the very women Komen claims to be committed to.”

Read the full article here.

And, every time a company slaps a pink ribbon on a product that increases our risk of breast cancer, corporate profits come before women’s health. Contributing to and then profiting from a disease that kills 40,000 women a year is wrong and it’s time we put an end to it!

Your willingness to take action and step up when you are most needed has inspired us to create a Think Before You Pink® Toolkit. Our new Think Before You Pink Toolkit is a direct response to the unending parade of pink ribbon paraphernalia that does more harm than good.

Wake up the world. Download your free copy of the Think Before You Pink Toolkit.

Our Think Before You Pink Toolkit is designed to help you

• deepen your understanding of the politics of breast cancer
• ask questions to be certain your donation dollars go towards addressing and ending this epidemic.
• take action to hold pinkwashing corporations accountable

Action speaks louder than pink. Download your free copy of the Think Before You Pink Toolkit.

Last week thousands of us rallied together to challenge Komen’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood for one simple reason: women’s health should ALWAYS come before corporate or political interests.

Far too often, political and corporate agendas trump what’s best for women’s health. We see it in pink ribbon marketing, toxic chemical (de)regulation, human gene patenting. No more. Take a stand with us to say: we will not allow political and corporate agendas to continue to hijack women’s health.

Download the Think Before You Pink Toolkit and put the tools of change in your hands.

Thanks for all you do for women’s health. Together, our actions will always speak louder than pink.

Executive Director Karuna Jaggar

By Karuna Jaggar, Breast Cancer Action Executive Director

This week hundreds of thousands of women’s health advocates joined together and took action. We insisted that women’s health come before politics or corporate interests. And a change happened because we demanded it.

For more than 20 years, Breast Cancer Action has been a watchdog in the breast cancer movement because when women’s lives are at stake, women’s health cannot be held hostage to political agendas. All women deserve access to information and resources to support breast health. There is no question that Komen’s decision to revisit their grants policy and reconsider their decision to defund Planned Parenthood’s is a victory—but in terms of the big picture, it is a small one.

We cannot allow ourselves to think our work is done just because Komen reversed course on their funding for Planned Parenthood. The status quo has not and will not end the breast cancer epidemic. As important as it is that underserved women can get their health needs met in their local clinic, the sad truth is that mammography remains an imperfect tool that cannot prevent breast cancer, misses far too many cancers, and results in over diagnosis and over treatment. Yes, all women must have access to the same resources and tools—however imperfect they may be. And still we know mammography alone is not the solution to this epidemic.

We have an opportunity as women’s health advocates to use the incredible power of our unified actions to really turn the tide on this epidemic. Enough awareness–we need action. This week, together, we demonstrated that “Action Speaks Louder Than Pink.”

Our actions over the last few days prove that we can make change happen. It’s time we join together again to ask Komen’s leadership to do more than just reconsider a funding policy.  It is time we urge Komen’s leadership to break through their status quo thinking and reevaluate all their policies and priorities in line with our commitment to put women’s health before political and corporate interests. Because we know that mammography and pink ribbon products cannot end the breast cancer epidemic.

We must bring the focus back to women living with and at risk of developing breast cancer. The last two days have been a stark reminder for all of us about what’s at stake: the breast cancer incidence in this country has risen from 1 in 20 in the 1960’s to 1 in 8 today. This year alone, 40,000 women—sisters, aunties, lovers, thinkers, do-ers, leaders—will die of breast cancer. We need to reevaluate the status quo of how breast cancer is addressed in this country because maintaining the status quo is not going to reverse those numbers. We need to ask and address the hardest questions:

• Why, in the richest country on earth, do we have to fight tooth and nail to get women the basic healthcare they need?
• Why are there such huge race and class inequities in breast cancer incidence and outcomes?
• Why are breast cancer treatments still horribly toxic, impossibly expensive, and ultimately fail too many women?

The sad truth is that Komen’s willingness to restore funding to Planned Parenthood will not prevent women from developing the disease nor will it end the epidemic. Komen continues to deny the links between DES and breast cancer and BPA and breast cancer. Komen overemphasizes the value of mammography—mammography will never stop cancer before it starts. And by allowing companies to put pink ribbons on their carcinogenic products, Komen supports pinkwashers. Meanwhile, metastatic disease, which is what kills women, receives only 2% of research dollars in this country.

This is a powerful and important moment to look closely at how we, as a country, address the breast cancer epidemic. We must insist that as long as women continue to die from this disease, women’s health must always comes first.

Today we have an opportunity to say: the status quo of breast cancer doesn’t put women’s health first. What will change the course of the epidemic is the fierce, unapologetic, clear-eyed activism we saw this week from women’s health advocates around the country, demanding that we must put women’s health first. Now is the time to demand more from your breast cancer organizations. Change will happen because you take action. And your actions will always speak louder than pink.

Tell Susan G. Komen for the Cure to continue funding Planned Parenthood's vital health services

Women’s healthcare is under assault once again. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is pulling all funding for Planned Parenthood, an outrageous decision that threatens women’s access to vital health services. But what’s particularly concerning is this funding cut will impact underserved communities most.

Click here to sign our petition to Susan G. Komen for the Cure demanding they put women’s health before politics.

Breast Cancer Action is committed to addressing the social inequities of breast cancer. We are particularly outraged that the funding cuts to Planned Parenthood will primarily affect women without health insurance and low income women, disproportionately women of color.

Planned Parenthood provides vital health services including screening, clinical exams, referrals for ultrasounds and biopsies, and breast health education, often to women who do not otherwise have access to healthcare. One in 6 women of reproductive age get their healthcare through Planned Parenthood.

We believe all women should have access to the same healthcare. The care a woman receives should not be based on the type of insurance or financial resources that she has or does not have access to—or political agendas.

Women’s health is women’s health, period. We insist on our rights as women to be in control of our medical decisions and choices without regard to politics, corporate interest, or the agendas of others. Organizations that are truly committed to women’s health must put women’s health before politics. We stand with Planned Parenthood in our shared commitment to putting women’s health first.

Please sign Breast Cancer Action’s petition to Susan G. Komen for the Cure demanding they put women’s health before politics.

Thank you for your continued support on these important actions that make a difference in women’s lives.

Executive Director Karuna Jaggar

By Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director

I’ve been closely watching the Occupy movement both locally and as it’s spread across the nation over the past few months. I’m inspired by the coming together of all these people to make systemic changes and I am repeatedly struck by the parallels between Occupy’s mission and Breast Cancer Action’s work to challenge polluters and pinkwashersand our actions to put patients before profit.

The forces that have united people across the country and driven them into the streets to protest—the profit-driven focus of corporate leaders, the short-sighted decisions of policy makers, and the refusal of people in positions of responsibility to do what is just and right—also fuel the continued status quo in the breast cancer epidemic. From atrazine to automobiles, from firearms to factory farms, we know that the interests of industry and the interests of public health rarely, if ever, align. I am starkly reminded that BCAction’s core principle to retain a strong, independent voice advocating on behalf of women’s health is more relevant and vital than ever.

For 21 fearless years, thousands of us have come together as Breast Cancer Action to carry the voices of women affected by breast cancer. Together we have worked to shift the balance of power away from those who would profit from this disease and into the hands of patients who deserve higher standards, better treatment, equal access. We were the first national breast cancer organization to adopt a strict corporate contributions policy over 15 years ago: we accept no money from any company that profits from or contributes to cancer—including Pharma, chemical companies, and insurance companies. This frees us from conflicts of interest so we can advocate unapologetically and fiercely on behalf of all women living with and at risk of breast cancer. Women you love and women like you.

• We put women first by insisting on regulatory reform that eliminates cancer-linked toxins in our environment. Our independence allows us to challenge corporations’ ability to develop, use, and release chemicals known and suspected to increase our risk of breast cancer. This year BCAction members took action to ban known carcinogens methyl Iodide and bisphenol A (BPA), and demand a national cancer prevention strategy all to stop cancer before it starts.
• We put women first by following the science on breast cancer screening and treatment, and providing factsheets, webinars, toolkits, and personalized information and referrals—free from Pharma influence. We don’t tell women what to do: we educate and empower them to work with their doctors in making their own decisions, based on their health priorities, values, and risk tolerance [See the article by Tracy Weitz in this issue].
• We put women first by going beyond the headlines and “science by press release” to analyze new research in breast cancer. We follow the science and tell women the whole truth about research results, such as “pills for prevention.” This year we expressed concern about Aromasin, currently used to treat breast cancer, being touted for breast cancer prevention. We believe a focus on pills for prevention fuels chemical solutions, Pharma sales and diverts resources from finding and eradicating environmental causes of, as well as effective treatments for, breast cancer.
• We put women first at the FDA, where we insist that new drugs must have demonstrated benefit for patients—not just fueling Pharma profits—in order to be approved. Women deserve to know that the medications they’re taking work for their health, not just the corporate bottom line. This year, the FDA followed our recommendation and revoked the drug Avastin for treatment of metastatic breast cancer over concerns about the drug’s safety and effectiveness.
• We put women first in the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Myriad’s patent on the breast cancer (BRCA 1&2) genes, which are in each of us, whether or not they are mutated. We’re plaintiffs in this case because the patent, which accounts for 88 percent of Myriad’s sales, harms patients’ ability to get accurate results, second opinions, affordable testing, and the benefit of research. Our lawyers at the ACLU have filed a petition for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court.
• We put women first through our Think Before You Pink campaign, where we hold accountable companies that profit from affiliating themselves with breast cancer, while simultaneously contributing to the disease. This October 5,000 activists like you joined us in demanding that Susan G. Komen for the Cure recall its pinkwashing perfume, which contains chemicals regulated as toxic and hazardous.

We have a mighty track record of success but we confront big challenges and as an organization we rise to meet those challenges on a daily basis. We are adapting new tools and programs to advocate for better regulatory and legal reforms, to educate and empower women affected by breast cancer, and to provide effective training for advocates across the nation. Our independence allows us to do the work that others cannot, which is why your investment in our work now is so important. Your support enables us to work every day for the systemic changes needed to address and end the breast cancer epidemic.

Together, we are altering the course of this epidemic. Together, we are ensuring that people come before profits and that women get the information they need, the justice they deserve, and the change they demand.

From all of us at Breast Cancer Action, I want to personally thank you. Please join the efforts of thousands of women and their famillies by making a generous year-end donation to Breast Cancer Action today.

By Rachel Cheetham, blogger at The Cancer Culture Chronicles and BCAction member

I’m forty one years old, living with metastatic breast cancer and I’m angry. I’m also a blogger and an active participant in the online breast cancer community, engaging in spirited debates and discussions about all things breast cancer with women and men from around the world.

From my vantage point in social media, there is an undercurrent of anger and disappointment that is fueling and amplifying an alternative conversation about breast cancer. A conversation that is challenging the pink status quo and the continued erosion of evidence-based truth by emotional anecdotes, corporatized visions of pink celebrations and sanitized notions of survivorship.

From my initial forays into finding alternative perspectives (read: the truth) about breast cancer, Breast Cancer Action was one of the first organizations that came to my attention. It’s clear that many of the stances Breast Cancer Action has taken have been unpopular within the mainstream, and largely pink, breast cancer movement over the years.

Since 1990, Breast Cancer Action has continued to lead the way with its thought leadership, “take-no-prisoners” attitude and feisty advocacy amidst a sea of pink unawareness.  Recent campaigns like “Think Before You Pink”, “Raise A Stink” and “What the Cluck” are typical examples that target core issues around the real causes of breast cancer and highlight egregious abuses of the public’s goodwill and trust in the name of pink ribbon fundraising.

Breast Cancer Action is one of the only truly independent breast cancer organizations in the United States. It does not accept financial support from corporate entities whose products or services they know include cancer diagnosis or treatment. Quite simply, Breast Cancer Action’s silence cannot be bought by vested corporate interests.

I trust that Breast Cancer Action has no other interests except to disseminate the truth about breast cancer, advocate for real prevention by investigating and eliminating the causes of breast cancer, and provide unbiased information to those of us who need it.

Because of their financial independence, Breast Cancer Action sustains itself largely from the donations of individuals like you and me.  I refuse to go away and quietly succumb to this wretched disease and I stand with Breast Cancer Action in its efforts to put breast cancer in the past tense.

Please join me today in making a donation to Breast Cancer Action so that it may continue its good works in moving the fight to eliminate breast cancer forward.

I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1979, at the age of 20, while my mom, in her 40s, was being treated for metastatic breast cancer. Like many cancer patients, I wanted to know Why me? Especially since I am adopted and could not rely on the stock explanation, “cancer runs in my genes.”

The newspaper headlines in 1979 offered me some clues. While still hooked up to the IV drip, I read about a place called Love Canal and an activist named Lois Gibbs who was arguing that underground pools of toxic waste in her upstate New York neighborhood were contributing to cancers and birth defects there. Further clues came from my own diagnosing physician, who asked me questions about my own possible environmental exposures.

Nevertheless, in the larger world where cancer patients live, there was—and still is—a silence about the environmental links to cancer. And there remains a huge disconnect between what the scientific community knows about environmental carcinogens (quite a lot) and what cancer patients are told (very little). I know this because I am a biologist as well as a cancer survivor. I sit on both sides of the table.

As a member of the scientific research community, I can tell you that chemicals linked to cancer are found in beauty products, plastics, and pesticides. They routinely turn up in food, air, and drinking water. And, as the President’s Cancer Panel concluded in 2010, environmental carcinogens play a much bigger role in the story of human cancer than has been previously appreciated. Yet, medical intake questionnaires—which cancer patients are forever filling out in waiting rooms across the United States—almost never inquire about the environments we’ve inhabited. And in the pamphlets on the waiting room shelves, the word carcinogen seldom appears.

How do we explain this disconnect? Why, in the face of so much evidence, does environmental amnesia persist? The organization who first answered these questions for me—and showed me how we might recover our collective memories—was Breast Cancer Action.

We need Breast Cancer Action and I’m proud to support their work. BCAction is the watchdog of the breast cancer movement. They relentlessly challenge conflicts of interest within the research community and fearlessly expose corporate hypocrisy within cancer awareness campaigns. They work to decrease our exposure to chemicals linked to cancer by demanding regulatory changes and legal reforms that adopt a precautionary approach to ban carcinogens from our daily lives in the first place.

I ask that you join me by giving generously to BCAction. It’s time to stop forgetting what we already know and to act on it.

Gladly,

Sandra Steingraber

P.S. If you’ve already made your year-end gift to BCAction, thank you so much for your support. We deeply appreciate it. If you’re inspired to make your year-end gift today, click here.

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized authority on environmental health. Sandra’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue and was released in a documentary film in 2010. In 2011, Sandra received a Heinz Award for her research, writing, and advocacy.

By Mara Meaney-Ervin, BCAction intern

I was in third grade when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember the tears our friends and family shed as she shared her diagnosis. I remember her guiding my hand, much smaller than hers then, to feel the lump in her breast so I could know what it felt like to help protect me in the future. Even when I know she felt weak and worse, to me, she always seemed so strong. And as a single mother and now a breast cancer survivor, strength doesn’t even begin to cover it.

One memory in particular stands out, but it took me years to understand why. After she was done with her first round of chemo and starting to regain some color and energy, she told me it was coffee that had made her sick. I’m sure she included coffee in a long list of other possible risk factors, but I clung to coffee, smelling it percolating on the stove even as she condemned it. What I realize now, though, is that, at least in part, my mother believed getting cancer was her fault. That she should have been able to prevent it, that even her health-conscious lifestyle had been insufficient. And worse, that by having breast cancer, she had let me down.

Now, nearly fifteen years later, my mom remains cancer-free and healthy. But I’m still mad. Not at her, whose strength will always make me proud, but at the monolith of cancer information that made her believe she had the power to do something to keep herself from getting cancer. I’m mad at a multi-billion dollar industry that told my mother and women like her that a mammogram could protect her from cancer. I’m mad at Myriad Genetics, the company that charged her so much to test for BRCA 1 and 2. In a way, my mom was right; her choices weren’t enough, because individual women cannot—and should not be blamed– for their own breast cancer diagnosis. While we can take measures to reduce our risk of getting breast cancer, our personal choices alone can’t guarantee we won’t get cancer.

That’s why Breast Cancer Action’s work is so important to me. This organization stands up for real women living with and at risk of breast cancer and works for systemic changes that will alter the course of the breast cancer epidemic. I know they’re working for me, for my mom, and for future generations. That’s what inspired me to move across the country and support BCAction by working as an unpaid intern.

The more time I’ve spent here, the more inspired I’ve become. I’ve seen how needed BCAction’s work for systemic change is, because the status quo of breast cancer is not OK.

So I decided to step up my support of BCAction. Breast Cancer Action does not take money from any business that profits from or contributes to cancer so they depend on support from individual supporters. Though I have no fortune of my own to donate, I have friends. And they have friends. And together, I know we can help by raising funds to help end this epidemic. I did this by starting my own fundraising page for Breast Cancer Action in honor of my mom. You can check it out by clicking here.

Please consider honoring someone you love by starting your own fundraising page this holiday season. It’s easy – register here to create your own page and then email out the link to your friends. Setting up your page is simpler than starting a Facebook account, and I’m happy to support you with any questions you may have.

This is my story. And as I learned so wisely from my mom, our personal choices alone will not prevent us from getting cancer. Fundraising for BCAction is one way that helps me turn my passion and anger into meaningful action. I know that the money raised will be used wisely to make system-wide changes that will protect everyone’s health. Join me in ending this epidemic.

Happy holidays!
Mara

For more than two decades, Breast Cancer Action has diligently challenged the cancer industry and the breast cancer advocacy movement at large to address the root causes of the breast cancer epidemic and to ask critical questions about where the money goes, how it is raised, and what it accomplishes. As incidence rates of the disease continue to rise and the majority of breast cancers come from unknown causes, it is clear that common awareness messages about genes, lifestyles, mammograms, and the promise of cutting-edge research are not solving the breast cancer problem – despite the billions of dollars raised and spent each year in the name of the cause. BCAction has been on the forefront of asking why?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is just as complicated as the question itself. First, cancer is multifactorial (i.e., stemming from multiple factors, multiple genes, and the complicated ecosystems of our bodies and the environments that affect them), and science is a basic process of incremental advancement in understanding how cancer works. Second, there are social barriers that impede progress on the cancer front. Among these are politics, distractions, misconceptions, profit motives, and conflicts of interest.

To break through some of these barriers, BCAction launched the Think Before You Pink® (TB4UP) campaign in 2002. The campaign calls for consumers to make conscious choices about pink ribbon purchases, as well as greater transparency and accountability from corporations and organizations that participate in breast cancer related programs and promotions. Calling out “pinkwashers,” those companies that claim to support the cause of breast cancer but at the same time manufacture, produce, or sell products that may be linked to the disease, TB4UP is an innovative response to the plethora of pink ribbon products that flood the marketplace each year in the name of breast cancer awareness and fundraising.

Now in its tenth year, TB4UP has compiled all that critical thinking to give us a toolkit that provides all of us with a range of approaches and actions to put our critical thinking to effective use. The Think Before You Pink Toolkit brings together information about the effects of pink profiteering and pinkwashing—all in one place. The 22-page toolkit is available for free here. Offered as a first step in changing the conversation about breast cancer and creating systemic change, the toolkit:

1. Gives consumers an opportunity to learn about the politics of breast cancer, the history of the pink ribbon, the background and successes of the TB4UP campaign, and key facts about the breast cancer epidemic that compel meaningful action;
2. Provides information to share with others including insights into the runs and walks, ideas about using social media to change the conversation, a TB4UP quiz, critical questions that conscious consumers can ask before making a pink ribbon purchase, and why a “better than doing nothing” approach to corporate fundraising is just not good enough and;
3. Suggests ways to act now to end pinkwashing, to increase the transparency of pink ribbon promotions, and to hold companies, organizations, and legislators accountable to their stated claims that ending the breast cancer epidemic is a priority.

I often ask people to consider how the idea of “awareness” really functions in American society now that the pink ribbon has become such a popular part of consumer culture. Taken together, do the thousands of common awareness campaigns that encourage people to “get your pink on” and “join the fight” work simply to generate visibility of the cause and encourage people to feel good about being part of it? Do the awareness/fundraising campaigns focus more on marketing and branding to sell products and generate revenue streams than they do on sharing truths about breast cancer that do not fit so neatly in a sound bite? Does the proliferation of the pink ribbon symbol galvanize people to take meaningful actions to eradicate cancer and provide a continuum of care to the diagnosed, or does it just create an impression that something is being done?

Could awareness be deeper than this? More effective? Could campaigns be more focused on information and actions that would really make a difference for those living with the disease as well as help people to understand the breast cancer epidemic and work toward ending it?

Yes, it could.

Though one wouldn’t know it from the pink slogans and products that bombard the marketplace during and beyond Pinktober or the ongoing public relations spin about the infallibility of pinkness, there are already those who are committed to moving beyond the superficial awareness that pink has come to represent. BCAction’s TB4UP toolkit is a shining example. It encourages attentiveness, conscious knowledge, and actions that promote systemic change. It moves beyond simple awareness. It speaks louder than pink. We can, too.

To support the work of Breast Cancer Action and the free education tools they provide, please make a year-end donation today. As a thank you for your year-end donation, you’ll receive theThink Before You Pink toolkit.

———-

Gayle A. Sulik is a medical sociologist, author, and health advocate whose work focuses on the impact of illness on individuals, families, and communities. Her recent book Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health (Oxford, 2011) highlights the hidden costs of the pink ribbon as an industry, one in which the cause has become a brand name with a pink ribbon logo. For more information, go to www.pinkribbonblues.org.

The Source—Fall/Winter 2011 | 12.14.11© 2011, Breast Cancer Action ISSN #1993-2408, published quarterly by BCAction. Articles on detection and treatment do not constitute endorsements or medical advice but are intended solely to inform. Requested annual donation is $50, but no one is refused for lack of funds. “Breast Cancer Action”, “Think Before You Pink” and the BCAction logo are the registered trademarks of Breast Cancer Action. All rights reserved. Not to be used without express written permission.

For immediate release
December 7th, 2011

Contact:  Angela Wall, Communications Manager (415) 243-9301 x16 awall@bcaction.org

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Breast Cancer Action (BCAction), the respected watchdog of the breast cancer movement, responded with disappointment to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach released today at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

The IOM was asked to review the current evidence on breast cancer and the environment, consider gene-environment interactions, review challenges in investigating environmental contributions to breast cancer, explore evidence-based actions that women might take to reduce their risk and recommend research in all of these areas.

“The IOM Report fails to turn the tide on this epidemic because it misses some important opportunities to implement real changes” said Breast Cancer Action’s Executive Director Karuna Jaggar, commenting from SABCS.  “They too broadly define the environment as all factors not directly inherited through DNA which includes anything from genetic changes to tissue, to stress, to lifestyle choices and changes in abdominal fat rather than the chemicals we are all exposed to in our everyday lives.”

Breast Cancer Action is deeply disappointed in the report which fails to advance research on breast cancer and the environment and shed light on the 70% of breast cancer diagnoses for which there are no known risk factors. “The report recommendations for women merely rehash the little bit we already know about lifestyle and breast cancer and miss an opportunity to focus on relatively unknown areas of the environment,” said Jaggar.

The report correctly identifies methodological challenges in data collection establishing links between environmental factors and breast cancer. “In medical science, the gold standard of evidence is random controlled experiments on humans; however, as the report rightly points out conducting random controlled experiments on the effect of toxins on women would be immoral and impermissible. We must find alternatives that enable us to take action.” Jaggar stated that “we need to adopt the gold standard of prevention and that’s the precautionary principle because waiting for absolute proof is killing us. Instead, the IOM shrugged the burden of prevention onto women’s lifestyle choices.”

IOM committee member Dr. Robert A. Hiatt stated at SABCS that if women follow the recommendations of the IOM report “we don’t even know whether they will actually reduce their risk.”Jaggar adamantly argued that “we don’t need reports that dink around with lifestyle choices—more exercise, less alcohol, avoiding excess weight, don’t smoke, etc.—which have at best an extremely small role in reducing breast cancer risk and which fail to acknowledge that not all women have equal access to healthy lifestyle choices. We need to apply precautionary principles that stop cancer before it starts.”

###

Breast Cancer Action (www.bcaction.org)—a national non-profit education and advocacy organization refuses to accept funding from pharmaceutical companies or any other organizations that profit from or contribute to the breast cancer epidemic.

Thank you so much to to everyone who took action against pinkwashing and for women’s health during this year’s Think Before You Pink® campaign. We are excited to report back to you about the campaign’s results and successes.

The Problem

For 10 years Breast Cancer Action’s Think Before You Pink® campaign has called out pinkwashers, which put profits before women’s lives. Pinkwashing reached a new low in 2011 with “Promise Me;” a perfume commissioned by the giant of the breast cancer movement Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Through independent laboratory testing, BCAction discovered that Promise Me contains unlisted chemicals that: (a) are regulated as toxic and hazardous, (b) have not been adequately evaluated for human safety, and (c) that have demonstrated negative health effects. Together we took on Komen’s pinkwashing, and your actions resulted in a huge success!

Raise a Stink! Campaign Goals

On September 27, we launched our Raise a Stink! campaign asking the public to send letters to Komen urging them to (a) recall Promise Me perfume and (b) sign BCAction’s Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing in order to:

1) Draw attention to the issue of pinkwashing and our ongoing Think Before You Pink® work to raise public awareness and change the conversation;

2) Engage activists to send letters to Komen leadership urging them to stand with women affected by and at risk of breast cancer;

3) Hold Komen accountable and urge them to act to ensure that the products they sell in the name of breast cancer do not increase a woman’s risk of the disease.

Raise a Stink! Results

1) BCAction received unprecedented nationwide and overwhelmingly favorable media coverage!  We were quoted and featured in Marie Claire magazine, the New York Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune, and NPR’s On Point, among other media outlets.

2) 4,915 people sent letters to Komen leadership

3) Komen issued a public statement “in response to questions raised about ingredients in Promise Me perfume.”

Raise a Stink! Successes

Raise a Stink! marked several successes in putting people before profits, demanding accountability in breast cancer fundraising, and empowering consumers. This campaign educated the public about the unlisted chemicals in Komen’s Promise Me perfume and raised awareness about the issue of pinkwashing. We also equipped the public with tools and specific actions to take to ensure that companies are not exploiting women’s good intentions and selling products linked to an increased risk of the disease. Together we:

1) Demanded accountability from Komen which was forced to respond with a public statement in recognition of the fact that eyes are on them as they move forward with a reformulation of the perfume for release next year.

2) Engaged and empowered activists for women’s health as people across the country turned their outrage to action and shared with friends and families.

3) Changed the conversation about Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pinkwashing as public outcry drew the media’s attention nationwide.

Together we’ll continue to change the conversation about breast cancer so we can end the epidemic. Thank you for your continued support.

Register for the "Toxic Cosmetics" webinar today!

During our recent “Raise a Stink!” campaign, one of the most common questions we heard was, “How is it even possible that a pink ribbon perfume contains chemicals bad for our health?” 

Here’s the answer to that very reasonable question: in the United States, there are very few restrictions on ingredients in body care products, no required testing for harmful chemicals, and no obligations to include certain ingredients on labels.

This lack of regulation is how we end up with personal care products containing toxins linked to breast cancer.

Please join us for our upcoming webinar to learn more about toxic cosmetics and what you can do about it.

Click here to register for November 29th webinar: 1-2 p.m. PST

Click here to register for November 30th webinar: 10-11 a.m. PST

For your convenience, we are offering the webinar at two different times. Click on the links above to register for the time and day that works for you.*

When you attend the webinar, you will learn:

• A brief summary of the problem with cosmetic regulation
• Who is at risk when it comes to toxins in personal care products
• Why we need safer cosmetics
• What chemicals we’re talking about when we say “toxic cosmetics”
• Current and past legislation aimed at regulating cosmetics
• Ways for you to take action to protect everyone’s health
• There will be time for questions, so bring your questions!

Breast Cancer Action will be hosting our webinar with two of our favorite groups – the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group.

Together we can change the status quo of how chemicals are regulated in this country.

*If you cannot attend the webinar at either time, please email us at skeiser@bcaction.org to request a recording of the webinar.

By Zoe Christopher, BCAction Resource Liaison

Lately I’ve been having a hard time reconciling our focus on a “pinked perfume” with the realities of the current global crisis. Sometimes I feel small and ineffective, climbing a short ladder set against the wrong tree. So what if corporate pinkwashers keep the profit cycle churning? So what if an organization’s successful marketing strategy depends on a few lies? This is not new. And pink is just a color. Let them have it. Give it up. Women are dying, for God’s sake – how does this matter?

Then on Saturday I marched with OccupySF, and I listened and I watched closely. As hundreds of us navigated the city streets, the crowd continued to grow and I felt the giant embrace of the world’s activist community. It hasn’t come easy but I realized that this is what happens when we educate each other one at a time. This is what happens when a truth is revealed, shared.  This is the energetic locomotive of social justice. This is how change happens.

At BCAction, as the Resource Liaison, I’m the one on the receiving end of most of the emails, letters and phone calls. I hear both the inspiring and the deeply disturbing stories from our members; I do the research to find answers to their questions; I distribute messages of support and love that come our way; and I field and respond to the criticisms. I ride an emotional roller coaster that descends into the dark, disturbing truth of our atrocious healthcare system and soars with the personal and political victories that we all work hard for. My coworkers know that my best days always include a convert, someone who approaches BCAction from the opposite side of the field but is receptive to and ultimately awakened by our position.

In late September, I was contacted by an organization that assumed an alignment with our work. They were developing an online resource for pink products that would help “…support breast cancer research and funding.” Well – you know how we feel about pink products and cause marketing but apparently they didn’t. I took a deep breath–and 24 hours–and then replied to their email with copies of our critical questions, our current TB4UP campaign (“Raise a Stink!”), and some truths about pink ribbon cause marketing. I didn’t expect to hear another peep.  Two days later, the company’s co-owner wrote to me: “Thank you so much for the information, it was eye opening! Your email prompted us to reexamine our breast cancer awareness page and completely change it.”

I always get teary when things like this happen. I wept many times during the OccupySF march for the same reason: people are waking up. “One at a time” has become thousands. I believe that if every one of us would take a stand for all of us, we will see change. Corporate profiteering at the expense of the vulnerable and pinkwashing on the backs of women living with breast cancer must stop.

Today I know I have my priorities straight: whether we are calling out corporate greed in general or revealing the egregious practices of individual pinkwashers, acting on what we know to be true is of vital importance. It’s our responsibility. Each of us must teach our friends and loved ones – no act is too small. The truth is spreading like a fire determined to burn clean.

“In a time of universal deceit — telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

-George Orwell

C.J. (Dian) Corneliussen-James

Editor’s Note: October 13th is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. We are honored to share this guest post written by C.J. (Dian) M. Corneliussen-James, president and founder of METAvivor Research and Support, Inc.

Every year at least $1.5 billion is spent on breast cancer research.  Some of this money comes from an ever-growing number of breast cancer non-profit organizations, but the vast majority comes from government organizations such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DoD).  The funds go largely to prevention and early detection.

As a metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patient and advocate, I wanted to know why funding was directed to prevention and early detection—which do not help women like me with metastatic disease—so I did a bit of checking.

Here’s the answer: In 1998 the NCI convened a Breast Cancer Progress Review Group (PRG) that established prevention and early detection as the national focus. A formal review of the program in 2004 recommended more of the same. In 2007, the Avon Foundation held its Collaborative Summit on Breast Cancer Research and established a goal of eradicating breast cancer through prevention and finding a cure.  And in 2010, the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) announced it would end breast cancer by 2020 through the development of a preventive vaccine.

In short, for more than 14 years there has been an enormous effort, seemingly across the board, to concentrate the bulk of breast cancer research on prevention and early detection.

Has the expenditure been worth it?Advances in early detection have led to mitigated success.  It is no longer unusual for breast cancer patients to be diagnosed at stage 0 and many patients are diagnosed at stage 1.  But even stage 0 patients can and do metastasize; in fact, patients can have metastatic cells before they even develop a stage 0 tumor.  As for prevention, it remains elusive.

Given that even this enormous, highly targeted research effort over a long period of time has been unable to achieve the hoped-for success, are the main players re-thinking the allocation of funds?  Much to my great dismay and frustration, it appears that quite to the contrary, the intent is, once again, “more of the same.” It is an incomprehensible decision for many of us in the MBC community.

Roughly 41,000 American women and men are dying of metastatic breast cancer every year. This, and the fact that 30% of breast cancer patients continue to metastasize, makes it clear that there could be no greater impact in the field of breast cancer research than to find solutions that would either significantly extend life for those with metastatic breast cancer or end death from the disease altogether.

Can this be done?  Career metastasis researchers state that this is indeed within the realm of possibility if the research would only be fully funded.  The reason we have seen such miniscule improvement to date is because the bulk of the breast cancer research funds go elsewhere, leaving only the paltriest share of funds — estimated at 2% — for metastatic breast cancer.

Why are other organizations not funding stage IV research?  Here are my thoughts:

1. Image and Turn-Around. Grant-givers prefer projects of short duration with a relative certainty of success.  That is good for the image and encourages future donations.  Mets research is enormously complex and the best chances for significant improvement tend to be out of the box ideas. Such research takes longer to accomplish and the predictability of success is shaky.

2. They are Getting Away with It: Cancer organizations have used token advances to claim they are making great strides forward with metastatic cancer.  The advances they speak of are rare and normally involve extending life at best for several weeks or months, but this is not made public.  Even those who know the truth keep giving, including some of those dying of the disease.  They are caught up by the glamour, the big names and the enticing events.   There is no need to take the difficult road.

3. Money .. Money .. Money. Metastatic cancer research is enormously expensive, especially if sufficient models (animal or otherwise), which are critical to much of the research, are to be developed. What is needed is a comprehensive plan that optimizes the use of funds, promotes collaboration, and devotes research funding proportionate to the percentage of patients, who metastasize –30%.  This must exclude research for the prevention of metastasis, which is a separate issue and must be treated as such.  If we do this, we can indeed bring about significant change.

I’ll admit it—I’m a grump about most breast cancer fundraising events. I’m a grump about the high overhead and I’m a grump about all of the pinkwashers that find their way into the mix.

But I am thrilled to be genuinely excited about an upcoming event hosted by Breast Cancer Action, which promises to be an evening of culinary delight, with nary a pinkwasher in sight.

In fact, I don’t think you’ll ever see a pink ribbon the same way again.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area on October 20th, I hope you can join me:

Action Speaks Louder Than Pink: Food For Thought

Enjoy a multi-course dinner prepared by executive chefs from premiere Bay Area restaurants, including Millennium Restaurant’s Eric Tucker, Locavore’s Jonathan Merritt and Poquito’s Richard Vila. Be deliciously entertained by a one-of-a-kind performance by The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. And don’t miss exciting silent auction items from Jardinière, Americano, Cliff House and others.

Thursday, October 20, 2011 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Horatius, San Francisco, CA

There is limited capacity for this event so get your ticket today!

Can’t join us for the event but still want to support Breast Cancer Action? Make a tax-deductible donation today. Your support enables us to do this work.

And don’t forget to Raise a Stink! about pinkwashing.

P.S. 100% of the proceeds from the event benefit Breast Cancer Action’s ground-breaking work to end the breast cancer epidemic. A special thank you to event sponsors:  Millennium, Locavore, Poquito, Wellsfargo, Whole Foods of Potrero Hill, Earth Source Organics, Bi-Rite Market, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Greenpostcards.

Join BCAction to learn how to Make Action Speak Louder Than Pink during our October webinars co-hosted by author of Pink Ribbon Blues Gayle Sulik and BCAction Program Manager Kim Irish. You’ll learn:

• Why the pink ribbon appears on so many products, especially in October
• The history of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and its corporate ties
• How BCAction’s Think Before You Pink campaign has challenged pinkwashers for 10 years
• Ways you can take action in BCAction’s Raise a Stink! campaign

Dates:

Thursday, October 13 at 1:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Central / 4:00 pm Eastern – Register HERE

Friday, October 14 at 10:00 am Pacific / 12:00 pm Central / 1:00 pm Eastern – Register HERE

By Caitlin Carmody, BCAction Membership Coordinator

On Monday, newsmagazine Mother Jones asked in a headline, “Is Susan G. Komen denying the BPA-breast cancer link?” My answer is yes, they are, and here’s why.

Komen, among others, is denying the BPA-breast cancer link just as they are denying the potential health threats of their “Promise Me” perfume because they continue to endorse the “innocent until proven guilty” standard by which toxic chemicals are regulated in this country.

The precautionary principle of public health, which Breast Cancer Action advocates, calls for us to act based on the weight of the available evidence because waiting for “absolute proof” is killing us. In the absence of scientific consensus we need to adopt the highest standards: when in doubt, leave it out!

We know about the pinkwashing products potentially harmful to women’s health, sporting a pink ribbon, produced by corporations all claiming to care about women with breast cancer. Products containing BPA and products like Promise Me.

It’s time for us to take bold action to end pinkwashing. It’s time to Raise a Stink!

Imagine if 10,000 of us asked Komen to sign a “Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing.” I believe we can move mountains if Susan G. Komen for the Cure joins the growing chorus of people demanding a precautionary approach to environmental toxins linked to cancer.*

In the case of BPA, and in the case of some of the chemicals found in “Promise Me,” Komen seems more like lobbyists for the chemical industry than advocates for women’s health. It’s time for a change.

Imagine if Komen put their weight behind the precautionary principle and demanded all their corporate partners do the same. If Komen joined us in prioritizing women’s health by pledging to stop pinkwashing, together we could make this month historic. October 2011 could be the year when people TAKE ACTION to end a breast cancer epidemic we have been aware of for close to forty years.

I believe Komen can choose to ignore 1,500 of us. I do not believe they can ignore 10,000 voices. That’s a lot of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and aunts, brothers and nephews, who care about cancer.

I wrote to Komen, I asked my friends, family, and random Facebook acquaintances to write to Komen, and I need you to join me in doing the same.

Last year, the President’s Cancer Panel announced that “the American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continually with myriad combinations of these dangerous [environmental] exposures.”

The panel reported that “the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated.”

It’s time we stopped underestimating the potentially harmful effects of environmental toxins–including galaxolide, a hormone disruptor that is bioaccumulative, crosses the placental barrier, and is in Komen’s “Promise Me” perfume. It’s time for a change.

This October, please join me in asking Komen to stop grossly underestimating the toll these toxins take on our lives.

We cannot end the breast cancer epidemic unless we put women first. Always.

*There are many wonderful organizations who are working to put our health first when it comes to environmental toxins, including The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Silent Spring Institute, Breast Cancer Fund, Women’s Voices for the Earth, and Commonweal.

By Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Action

Two days after Breast Cancer Action publicly announced the findings of independent lab testing of Komen’s commissioned perfume Promise Me, we want to thank BCAction members and supporters who have sent almost 1,200 letters to Komen urging them to recall the product.

Instead of directly addressing consumer concerns about the ingredients in the perfume, Komen has responded to our action with more talk; but for all their explanations, they have yet to address any of our concerns.

Komen said they will not recall the product nor will they assure us that they will take the highest standards of precaution when it comes to women’s health. They did, however, talk:

• about the money the perfume will raise, noting a minimum of $1M to be donated by TPR Holdings;
• about the burden of responsibility for health safety resting with “intelligent consumers who make informed decisions about the use of products based on evidence;”
• about  how much they care about research and prevention;
• about their intention to continue selling Promise Me.

Komen’s talk poses more questions than it answers:

• In highlighting the money raised by the perfume, is Komen suggesting that regardless of any health risks, the ends justify the means?
• How can consumers make informed decisions about Promise Me when Komen hasn’t publicly disclosed the list of ingredients on the product label?
• Is Komen really suggesting “buyer beware” by putting the burden on “intelligent consumers” to make “informed decisions”?
• How can Komen’s Medical and Scientific Affairs team conclude that it is okay to include Toluene in Promise Me when the International Fragrance Association bans its use?
• The FDA has notorious loopholes in its regulatory policies. In citing FDA guidelines as a resource on the safety of cosmetics and fragrance, is Komen unaware of the work by several national breast cancer organizations, many working in coalition with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, to close these gaping regulatory holes? (Check out their terrific “Not So Sexy” report for more information about the health risks of chemicals in fragrance.)
• If Komen is committed to funding research on causes and prevention of breast cancer, why do they allocate less than 4% of the $1.9 billion (yes, billion) they have raised to these areas?
• Komen says they are reformulating the perfume to be “sensitive to concerns” about the perfume’s ingredients. Unfortunately, “reformulate” does not necessarily mean “safe” (the notorious cancer-causing pesticide methyl iodide, in use as I type this, was a replacement for the ozone-depleting methyl bromide.) Does Komen also intend to adopt the highest standards of precaution when it comes to women’s health to ensure the “reformulated” perfume is not as bad as the one currently on shelves and in homes?
• And finally, if Komen cares deeply about women’s health, about the prevention and cause of breast cancer, why won’t they commit to taking every precaution to ensure that the products they sell and endorse are safe by signing the Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing?

Komen is asking women to trust their good intentions. In essence, Komen is asking us to look at what they say, not at what they do. To which we can only reply: Action speaks louder than pink. Komen talks a good line about “ending breast cancer” and ”funding research on prevention.” Komen has an opportunity to talk less and act more: recall Promise Me and sign the Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing. It’s that simple.