October is one of my favorite months of the year.
The cool breezes, the changing leaves, the crisp blue skies …
But recent years has brought a new message our way which is permeating every media outlet imaginable and is anything but enjoyable.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in America and with it comes an annual pinkwashing of the grandest proportions.
Pink gloves and cleats on NFL players, pink sweat bands and referee flags, and pink ribbons worn by TV commentators. Even the National Anthem has been pinkwashed with a giant pink flag in the shape of a ribbon replacing the American flag during the singing of this patriotic song prior to professional sporting events!
To me, this is not only extremely unpatriotic, but downright insulting to our men and women in uniform.
What are these people thinking? Is it so incredibly much to ask for people to actually think before they pink?
Even for those of us who see through the pink propaganda and ignore the media stupidity can’t seem to get away from the zombie like hypnosis that comes over people with regard to supporting the marketing bonanza that is “Breast Cancer Industry Month”.
I was shocked last week when the team manager for one of my children’s sporting teams pushed to have the children wear pink ribbon socks during games for the month of October.
I politely declined. There’s no way my child will be used as a pawn to support the message of pink hypocrisy that the Susan B. Komen Foundation represents – the organization primarily behind October pink ribbon madness.
“Komen for the Cure”?
Fat chance.
More like “Komen for the Cause”.
A story in Mother Jones explains how Komen continues to insist that bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure via plastics is safe despite more than 130 scientific studies demonstrating a clear connection between bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure and breast cancer. In addition, early exposure to BPA promotes early puberty which is a strong risk factor for breast cancer later in life.
Moreoever, Komen aggressively mobilizes businesses to display the pink ribbon or color a product pink as a message of “hope” for the “cure”.
This completely unethical raising of funds enlists these businesses to donate portions of their sales revenues to Komen even though many of these products contain carcinogenic, GMO and highly toxic ingredients.
Where does all the millions upon millions of dollars go that the Komen Foundation rakes in every year?
For fiscal year 2009/2010, Komen contributions included: $141 million for education, $47 million for health screening, and $75 million for research. Fundraising costs and affiliate expenses were approximately $60 million and general administrative costs at $37 million.
- Not one
pinkred cent went into education about how diet greatly affects the development of cancer, particularly how cancer thrives on sugar and other toxic foods. No mention of avoiding junk food and eating whole, organic foods. - Komen refuses to acknowledge nontoxic screening alternatives to mammograms. These include thermography and even better, breast ultrasounds which are zero radiation, no compression alternatives that find breast cancer far earlier than mammograms! It is well known that mammograms cause cancer and result in misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment of thousands of women every single year. In addition, there is zero evidence that mammograms save lives in the majority of cases.
- The “research” funded by Komen is for the pharmaceutical industry only. Not a dime for Dr. Burzynski in Houston or Dr. Gonzalez in New York (a recent recipient of the Integrity in Science Award from the Weston A. Price Foundation) who are both practicing safe, holistic and highly effective cancer treatments as compared to the living death that is conventional chemo/radiation. Even though Suzanne Somers beat her breast cancer with mistletoe extract injections and wrote a bestseller about it, Komen hasn’t even consulted with her.
Here’s the bitter truth. Komen doesn’t want a cure. Pinkwashing is far too lucrative.
How are you opting out of the pinkwashing madness this month?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources and More Information
Where does all the Komen for the Cure money really go?
The Dangers of Estrogenic Foods, Herbs and Supplements to Breast Health
Susan B. Komen Financial Statements, 2009/2010
I almost missed this article because as soon as I saw the pink ribbon my mouse went automatically to the delete button! So glad I saw (right as it vanished) that it was from HHE and went to fish it out of the trash. 🙂 It’s an absolute travesty that an organization like Komen would not use their power to educate on alternative options (like those of Dr. Burzynski and Dr. Gonzalez) and make them readily available to people with all different kinds of cancer. A travesty, but not a surprise. The entire medical system is all about the money. Thanks for speaking out!
Now, that’s annoying…when I enter my info to ‘leave a comment’, the lines have pink around them. Hmmph.
Have opted out of mammograms for some years now…and what will Obamacare try to force us in to with that disastrous, illegal program?
Notice the responder from SGK linked to Huffington Post….heaven knows THAT is a website where I go for accurate information. Sheesh.
Wonder what the new CEO’s salary is…
Yes Susan, I never get mammograms either and you can’t believe the ridicule I get! Anyway, it is just common sense not to squish your breasts and run radiation through them. I personally have seen lots of mistakes made on the reading of them too. No way. I seem to remember a campaign called, “Think before you Pink” and it may have been similar to this article. Thanks again Sarah! You have hutzpah!
Good news for you, Susan! The Affordable Care Act will 1) make no changes to your health care if you already have insurance and 2) if you don’t will help you find an affordable doctor you are comfortable with, so if you prefer not to have a mammogram, NO ONE WILL FORCE YOU to have it. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to go around spouting false information here or anywhere, right?
Perhaps they won’t force you to have a mammogram but they most certainly are forcing people to buy healthcare. I don’t want to find a doctor, affordable or not. I don’t want insurance for it, affordable or not. I DON”T WANT IT! But it is being FORCED on me. It is wrong and I hope our representatives get it stopped.
You are so right Nancy! It is wrong to force people..period! I don’t want this “good” for me program, at all! Melinda, it is wise for you to be careful what you say also, as no one knows the ramifications of this whole mess. I prefer a naturopath. Do you think that I will be able to use them instead of the doctor? No. Already asked several insurance companies and they won’t pay. How do you figure I have the power to choose who I am “comfortable with” if they won’t pay and I HAVE to pay. This is ludicrous. Not everyone is alike in anything. No point to trying to push everyone into a one size fits all ANYTHING.
RE: Obama Care. You should get down on your knees and thank God for Obama Care. Why? Because if you don’t have health insurance there is a very good chance you will wend up bankrupt. Before the housing crash, almost half the people filing bankruptcy did so because of medical costs. BEFORE Obama Care, if a family lost their health insurance, it would cost $1,200 a MONTH in premiums. And, that didn’t mean you could even get it, as insurance companies denied anyone with pre-existing medical problems. Don’t think you need coverage? Well, when I severely broke my ankle, it cost $50,000. When my brother had a heart attack, it cost $200,000. Can you afford to pay that? If not, kiss your house, your savings and your future good-bye. And, for those who would just go into the emergency room for treatment because the hospital couldn’t refuse treatment. Well, there is no free lunch. It resulted in passing the cost on to those that did pay for it by $1,200 a year. Get your facts on Obama Care from the government website, not some pundit who makes millions of dollars by upsetting people and causing controversy to increase show ratings. Obama Care won’t kill you, but NOT having health care will .
Nonsense they won’t force you into procedures you are against! Most doctors out there are only too happy to tell you its their way – routine physicals, mammograms, colonoscopies, vaccinations, etc – or the highway. I take care of four elderly parents who see mainstream doctors of all sorts, and very few of them will even DISCUSS an alternative to a test or procedure they are recommending. And the fact that we are being FORCED to buy health insurance will very likely lead to being forced into more and more intrusion down the road.
Obama troll and low-information-voter.
A very angry one, to boot. Methinks she works for Komen and sees profits evaporating. No doubt she is nervous about having enough salary to pay her health care premiums, deductibles, co-pays that are about to go up.
Oh, CJ, having a tea bagger call me names is just so funny! “Low Information voter!” Oh, you’re hysterical! You DO know that term was coined for Fox viewers, right?
The reason EVERYONE will be required to purchase insurance is that people who are already insured are tired of paying for emergency room visits by people who didn’t think they needed insurance until they got hit by a bus. But the good news for YOU is that while you’ll have to enroll, no one can or will force you to ever actually VISIT a doctor, if your little heart objects to it. You would know this if you had any interest in facts, which are easily available right now. I’ll suggest you turn off Hannity and Rush and get some.
Melinda, when you started calling people “tea baggers”, you gave yourself away. Noone on this site will listen after you attack a perfectly logical person’s opinion. When sarcasm drips from all your statements, it really shuts down any communication. This site is for sharing properly researched information. If you want to participate, you must bring solid info. I know this is difficult with all the spin involved in everything, but that is what we are looking for here. Nothing but the truth.
Yeah but what are you suppose to do if your doctor as of November of this year is closing his practice? We live in a small town and I would like to know how these already busy doctors are going to take all these new patients that are without their doctor? He is closing because of Obamamacare, more and more small businesses are closing, how is that going to help anyone?
You do know that businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the Affordable Care Act?
Yes I do, but that doesn’t exempt them from the excessive paperwork. He has to file a form with the government for every prescription he hands out. The bottom line is there are going to be a lot of doctors closing their businesses and then that will create long waiting times and other problems.
Watchmom, were you equally offended when CJ called me (first) a troll and a “low information voter”? Was it a problem for you when IC also insulted me and made imaginary derogatory statements about my supposed employment? I’m confused as to how you think those posts moved the discussion forward. What response to these insults do you think would have been more appropriate? Did you call him/her on the rudeness and lack of facts to discuss my perfectly factual post about the ACA? Did you find their attacks ” a logical opinion”? Because, of course, they are not? So isn’t it curious you attack ME and not them? How revealing!
Melinda, you obviously have NO idea what the Affordable Care Act is all about. Affordable? No. When anything is run by the government you play by their rules. If they want to force you to have tests, they will. We will have NO choice. Remember the little girls garden? Government housing—they said to takedown your garden!!
Well, I obviously know more than you do, although that’s not saying much. I know, for example, that the insurance companies in NY and CA, when faced with competing in an open marketplace, lowered their proposed premiums by between 30% and 50%. That seems significant to me. And affordable. And just so you know, the government is not supplying the insurance! It’s the same companies that people have been buying insurance from for years. The government sets up the exchanges so people can CHOOSE which plan fits their needs and budget. And if you’re below a certain income, you get a subsidy to help you pay for it. I realize this runs counter to everything you hear on rightwingnut TV, but it’s so easy to verify, it’s kinda irresponsible to post things that are clearly not true – don’t you think?
I think it is better to just ignore her. I really like this blog and the comments this is the first time I have seen it venemous. Melinda really is over the top and ill informed don’t be drug down.
Hey, John, I am always happy to learn new things when the discourse is civil. That’s why I’ve been reading Sarah’s blog since the beginning. I respect her research and her plain speaking even when I don’t agree with her conclusions (which is rare.) But I guess I’m like most people in not much liking being attacked.
I learned something new from a link someone provided above, when I asked her to back up a statement. Now I’m longing to know what, exactly, you think I’ve written that is ill-informed. I’m sure you know that just because YOU either don’t know it or don’t like it, or think something is not true, does not make that so. That includes all the misinformation here about the ACA. So, please tell us!
Wow. Tell us more about Dr. Gonzalez.
Here is a transcript from the Healing Cancer World Summit and Dr. Gonzales is first up. Very interesting!!! https://s3.amazonaws.com/cancersummit/transcripts/HealingCancerWorldSummit_Transcript_Night01.pdf
While it’s great(!) to see information out there about what’s up with the Komen Foundation, it’s aggravating to see false information spread in the comments. Abortion is NOT a risk factor for breast cancer. And birth control pills slightly increase risk for some cancers and decrease risk for others. Let’s not forget, childbirth is also a health risk.
I think we can agree its important to keep cancer rates on the radar of all Americans. How can we shift the conversation from “cure” to prevention? And how do we get big funders, like the Komen Foundation, to move some of their money in that direction?
I encourage you to read more than the Komen and other US industry standard info. Many studies show the increased risk of BC because of abortion. Childbirth can be a risk if you have children very late in life (which often really likely means it was caused by years of use of artificial hormones.) Good luck. We can only shift to prevention if people actually educate themselves outside the industry box.
abortion may or may not be a risk factor for cancer, however it is a death sentence for one of the human beings involved and a mental risk factor for all the others involved. It is murder.
Abortion does not cause breast cancer!! There is not one shred of reputable scientific evidence to back this up. Our polluted food and water supply as Sarah suggests are a big culprit of this disease. It can also be genetics.. we need to find the root causes, address them and use that information to find a cure. A cure cannot be found without knowing the cause. I had an abortion last year for an ectopic pregnancy. If one is morally opposed to abortion then do not have one. However, many midwifves and herbalist know what herbs to take that will induce an abortion.
I love your absolutist, facts-be-damned, attitude that female breasts are not harmed by an induced abortion.You tell me why there could not be a link, and I’ll tell you why it’s very plausible.
In getting ready for the developing child, the undifferentiated breast cells are gradually changed into milk-producing cells. This change actually protects a woman against breast cancer if childbearing starts in her early twenties (later-in-life pregnancies gives lower protection). However, if this change is prematurely interrupted through abortion, then all those cells are left vulnerable to cell damage and are at greater risk of becoming cancerous.
Professor Joel Brind, a professor at Baruch College, City University of New York who is an expert on the abortion-breast cancer link, has observed that women in Bangladesh have very traditional childbearing patterns that reduce breast cancer risk. He first explains why abortion might increase the risk of breast cancer:
Read the whole story here http://www.lifenews.com/2013/08/19/73-studies-have-examined-abortion-and-breast-cancer-53-show-higher-risk/
So, in keeping with your logic: Do miscarriages increase the risk of breast cancer?
I believe the difference between miscarriage and abortion are the signals within your body. When a miscarriage occurs, your body knows this and adjusts naturally– some miscarriages occur due to inadequate hormones, or if there is some other problem, hormone levels drop and things change over time . . . . it is a process (usually occurring before the woman knows it is happening). With an abortion, your body has nothing to do with the process, the baby is literally sucked -or dismembered and removed- out of you and your body is thrown instantly into a non-pregnant state. There is no natural process where abortion is involved.
“Might” “May” “Could”… I’m so glad the blog we visit here is based on actual, you know, facts. Do you know how absurd your argument is? All I asked for was a link to any study demonstrating a link between abortion and breast cancer. I’ll not you can’t provide that.
What about this: http://americanrtl.org/abortion-breast-cancer
Here you have a National Cancer Institute Researcher reversing herself and doing a new study!
Thank you for the link – that’s very interesting. As a non-scientist I’d like to know what they think is the difference between an induced abortion and a spontaneous one. I’d imagine many spontaneous abortions occur before the woman may even be aware she’s pregnant, which would make statistical tracking difficult.
Ha ha – show me ANYTHING in medicine that is not “may” or “could.”
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7693
Further insights…
Great piece. Right on point. I’ve always opted out of supporting Komen because they are linked to Planned Parenthood. You are so right they do not want a cure because they would be out of business.
To add insult to injury, they give money to Planned Parenthood which has admitted they do not do mammograms (which most people think is the gold standard in detecting breast cancer)
Wait one minute about Planned Parenthood, sistas. PP does more than abortions. In fact, they have provided affordable health care for women for years. One of the reasons, Koman was shocked at the outrage when they defunded PP, was because generations of women had gone to PP in their youth, when they didn’t have money for health care. PP does PAP smears. It does a lot of other tests that could lead to serious illness or cancer. They teach women about birth control…all kinds. I’m not keen on the pill, however, it should be a women’s choice. There are other means of birth control they offer. And, please don’t go down the road on abortion and cancer. There are thousands upon thousands of new breast cancer victims and it’s not due to abortions.If you want to reduce abortions, educate on contraceptives. If you want to eliminate drug contraceptives, make men start being responsible for procreating and get them to wear a condom. Real men wear condoms. Now there is campaign to promote
you know what’s even better……self-control.
With mandatory health care, PAPs are covered. The point of PP providing them now is moot.
Just to be clear, there is NO “mandatory health care.” There IS mandatory health insurance. Everyone has to sign up, everyone has to pay for the policy that fits her needs and budget (unless they already have this insurance, as 85% of Americans do, thru an employer.) Once you sign up, if you never go see a doctor for anything, that’s your choice and really, no one cares.
Yes, but since everyone will be covered there will be no need to go to outside providers like PP when things like PAPs and annual checkups will be completely covered. So why would anyone pay premiums and then go to PP for preventative care and pay again (it’s not free for everyone.)
I use this month as an opportunity to educate every cashier that asks for a donation to the SGK fund. People really have no idea that all of these pink ribbons are a deceptive money horse. It is interesting, the responses I get!
Amen sister!