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
Amen sistah. I appreciate you keeping the word out there and exposing the sham organizations for what they truly are. I’ve had to argue with doctors about me not getting a mammogram, and have had the thermographic imaging instead. Of course, my insurance won’t cover a test that is outside the box, even though the test they do cover causes the very disease it’s meant to diagnose. How bass-ackwards is that?
You’re so offensive, Sarah. I love it 😉
I have been criticized for never having a mammogram. I am 46. If I felt a need for it, then I would have one. Blood tests should also show the red and white cell counts indicating an issue or something happening. If you listen to your body, you know there is a problem. And don’t forget, there is a lot we can learn from animals or our pets. BUT, there is BIG MONEY in boobies. Yes, it probably gave a lot of people jobs, and hope, but how much is government funded? BIG PHARMA? Natural healing takes time. Too many want an immediate result or cure. TV and media are now the “rulers” for all the poor information. I could go on, but….
LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE!!!!!!!!
I couldn’t agree more! All this prevent cancer propaganda irritates me to no end. The pharmaceutical companies are making money coming and going…polluting our bodies and our environment, getting us sick, then promising they can make us well.
I can’t believe how many educated people buy into this.
Thank you for writing and publishing this post. It’s very important.
Thank you so much for this information. I see that I was pink-washed, but in a different way. I can say that I have never bought anything because it was pink/SKG. And, yes, the product endorsements are rediculous. We might as well have Monsanto join the crusade!
That being said, let me add my viewpoint to the discussion for some balance. I watched the football game with the pink ribbon ceremony at the start. I was not repulsed because it was announced that the women standing behind the singer were all friends and family of the league who had been touched by breast cancer. I saw it as a support and testament to the strength of women (&men) who have fought that battle.
I live about 60 miles from SKG in Peoria, but have never had any affiliation with them until last year. I was previously very lackadaisical about having mammograms and had even skipped the year before. Now I am an advocate for the digital mammography that caught my breast cancer earlier than conventional testing would have. At that point I was sent to SKG for biopsy and again later for MRI. When scheduling my biopsy they asked if I would allow them to do a blood draw to participate in a dna study.being conducted by one of the medical universities. Of course I was glad to help. As soon as they became involved with my care, they were so incredibly helpful and kind. They sent comprehensive literature concerning my condition and assigned a “Breast Health Navigator” to me who was in frequent contact to answer questions, explain everything that was happening, and make sure I was getting the best possible care from my primary physician.
Based on your article, I can agree that “Komen for the Cure” is probably more of a catchy slogan than anything, but I can attest that they are involved to some degree with current research. When I see the pink ribbons, however, I have always thought that they were more for support of those women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. And now I am confident that a better slogan might be “Komen for the Care”. Oh and by the way, I am blessed to be ‘cured’.
I hope this doesn’t get me bashed. I am not saying everything they do is correct and I’m not arguing with the premise of the article because I don’t have actual information to refute it. I’m just trying to open the discussion to another side.
Sherry,
Thank you for your comments and there should be no bashing of you. Congratulations on your recovery and I wish you continuing good health.
I agree with Sarah that Komen is more a huge marketing program than anything else and with all their high powered marketing, how can there be one person in this country who isn’t aware of breast cancer? One can’t negate the funds that have been donated for research, but donated to whom. Big pharma?
I offer another perspective on this. I am a lung cancer survivor – 7 years no evidence of disease. More women DIE each year from lung cancer than from breast, colon and ovarian cancers combined. Can anybody tell me without googling it when Lung Cancer Awareness month is? How about thyroid cancer which affected one of my dearest friends (who is also clean).
I realized after my treatments that I needed to make some serious lifestyle changes which is why I follow blogs like Sarah’s.
The human body is not a machine. It is a dynamic physical/spiritual/emotional organism whose intricacies may not ever be completely understood by mere mortals. Both prevention and healing must occur on all of those levels.
Sherry, in my view the reason that breast cancer gets so much notice is that nothing can top the almighty woman’s breast! A symbol of sexuality gets all the attention–men can jump on that bandwagon with ease. Sad to say but lungs, colons and ovaries are just not that “sexy”. I wish you all the best.
Sherry, I would be interested to know if anyone at Komen discussed prevention and the many ways we can proactively promote breast health, such as optimizing vitamin D and iodine status; lymphatic drainage; detox baths with Epsom salts; stress reduction; optimal sleep; restorative exercise; replacing consumption of refined and hydrogenated vegetable oils with nutrient-dense traditional fats; replacing hormone-riddled CAFO meats, eggs and dairy with CLA-rich pastured or grassfed meats, eggs and dairy; increasing consumption of organic vegetables; natural hormone balancing; avoiding underwire bras that block lymph drainage; and reduction of exposure to toxins, endocrine disruptors, flame retardants, vaccine adjuvants, heavy metals and radiation, etc. Thank you for sharing your perspective and I wish you the best in your health journey.
Sarah,
We are looking forward to what you have to say to Andrea Raeder……
THANK YOU, thank you! You said what my husband and I have been saying to ourselves for a couple of years now! Unfortunately, my children are wearing the pink on their teams/squads because they didn’t want to stand out as being different from all of their friends and teammates. However, as parents, we did explain to our children what it was about (in a way they could understand) and also our reasons for not agreeing with nor support the movement as well as the organization behind it. Kudos to you for standing up and standing out! Wish we had done the same….
That’s quite the article, but I think that wearing pink is for awareness, not for the conspiracy of the foundation. GO PINK!!!!
You don’t get it, do you?
Is there really anyone left who isn’t “aware” of breast cancer? Do we really need a foundation to spend millions or billions of dollars to make us more “aware”??
A couple of years ago, before I knew what a travesty the whole Komen thing is, I received an ad from somewhere with the cutest designer pink purse for $35. My first thought was that if I ordered several that they would make cute holiday gifts for the girls in my family, and the bonus was that I would be donating at the same time. But then I read in small teeny, tiny letters on the bottom of the order form that of the $35, only one dollar would be donated to breast cancer research. Here I had an ad from some big designer promoting the sale of this purse to help the “cause” and the big designer was only going to pony up a buck?
Needless to say, I didn’t order any purses. This whole pink thing is not only a money maker for the Komen industry, but it makes a crap-ton of money for other industries as well. These places pat themselves on the back for helping the “cause” while laughing all the way to the bank because they suckered people into buying their product believing they did a good thing.
The entire thing makes me want to lose my lunch. OH!! And don’t even get me started on the football! There’s another thing that makes me crazy! Football is on in my house constantly and I can’t stand all the commercials right now telling us we should join the NFL in this entire pink BS. It is so maddening! UGH!
Thank you Sarah….I’ve been reeling from pinkwash for years now, and am so glad to see you speak out about it. Such a hypocrisy in my mind….and cancer is indeed a huge and lucrative industry for those who purvey it….how sad is that?