Well ladies, looks like this is our month!!!!

shy violet

Scotch Freckles said:

To Pink
I have mixed feelings about how commercialized this pink thing has gotten. Where does all the money really go? If so much money is collected why isn't there really good financial help for those who do not have insurance or money growing on trees. Why should any cancer victim have to beg for help? Did anyone see yesterdays football game where the players on one team had pink mouth guards, pink gloves, pink shoes? Do these guys really care? And to top it off, every store you check out at the question of the days is "Would you like to donate to Breast Cancer Month?" My answer is "I donate all year long because I have been there." Am I being too sarcastic?

The pink football team is
The pink football team is very touching because it was started by just one player who chose to wear custom pink shoes as a tribute to bc affecting him and his family personally...it grew from there and many in the leagues have thrown their support behind this...i think it is amazing...to think that these manly men are not ashamed to wear pink in our honor...

KathiM

Scotch Freckles said:

To Pink
I have mixed feelings about how commercialized this pink thing has gotten. Where does all the money really go? If so much money is collected why isn't there really good financial help for those who do not have insurance or money growing on trees. Why should any cancer victim have to beg for help? Did anyone see yesterdays football game where the players on one team had pink mouth guards, pink gloves, pink shoes? Do these guys really care? And to top it off, every store you check out at the question of the days is "Would you like to donate to Breast Cancer Month?" My answer is "I donate all year long because I have been there." Am I being too sarcastic?

When I am asked to contribute,
I laugh, and say "I contributed over $250,000 in treatment, etc costs. My life was my contribution receipt!"

It usually sparks some interesting conversations...and teaches the fund raisers that there is more than one reason people say "No".

Hugs, Kathi

shy violet

John_32 said:

I was researching BC brain
I was researching BC brain metastases on the Internet tonight and came across an article, from what seems to be a legitimate organization (the Cancer Prevention Coalition), stating that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is actually an invention of Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, whose parent company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) "is one of the world's largest manufacturers of petrochemical and chlorinated organic products -- including the plastic ingredient, vinyl chloride -- which has been directly linked to breast cancer, and the pesticide Acetochlor." They further claim that it was conceived as essentially a PR campaign to focus attention on heredity, hormones, and diet as the causes of cancer, rather than toxins in the environment and in products women use everyday (which are produced by the chemical industry). Maybe someone else will know more about this--I'm certainly not promoting anything, just putting it out there because it got my attention, and I know my mother, who is now stage IV, has long suspected products we use (soap, shampoo, makeup, etc.) which have a litany of unreognizable chemicals may be absorbed through the skin and cause cancer.

http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/mammography/awareness.htm

Other controversial thoughts
Other controversial thoughts can be found in the books by Suzanne Sommers...I read them and actually put up a separate post on that but haven't had any discussion posts

John_32

Scotch Freckles said:

To Pink
I have mixed feelings about how commercialized this pink thing has gotten. Where does all the money really go? If so much money is collected why isn't there really good financial help for those who do not have insurance or money growing on trees. Why should any cancer victim have to beg for help? Did anyone see yesterdays football game where the players on one team had pink mouth guards, pink gloves, pink shoes? Do these guys really care? And to top it off, every store you check out at the question of the days is "Would you like to donate to Breast Cancer Month?" My answer is "I donate all year long because I have been there." Am I being too sarcastic?

I agree. As I posted above,
I agree. As I posted above, the American Cancer Society, a non-profit organization, reported over $1.5 billion in assets in 2008, and yet people like my mother, who is stage IV and facing bankruptcy, cannot get any health insurance. Where does all this money go? It is also highly irregular that Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been underwritten by a major pharmaceutical company owned by an industrial chemical conglomerate, and this corporation has final say on all BCAW messaging, focusing on early detection and drug research, by which it stand to profit, and not on the potential environmental CAUSES of cancer, by which it and its parent company--major manufacturer of all sorts of environmental pollutants--could face significant financial losses. As with everything about this disease, information is power, and everyone should get past all of this pink crap and start looking at these serious conflicts of interest. Go to the bottom of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month website, you will see these words: "Copyright 2010 Astra-Zeneca."

Moopy23

Pink Packaging and Profits
Good thread, Mama G! As for me, pink used to be my favorite color. Pink and October? Not so much.

I find it hard to be reminded constantly, in the most mundane of places and everywhere I go, of my cancer diagnosis. Moreover, as John and others point out, how much of the profit from those pink-packaged items actually are used to help cancer patients in any real way? Can't be much of a percentage, given how many of us are still dying.

So, speaking for myself, I could do without Cancer Month.

Scotch Freckles

John_32 said:

I agree. As I posted above,
I agree. As I posted above, the American Cancer Society, a non-profit organization, reported over $1.5 billion in assets in 2008, and yet people like my mother, who is stage IV and facing bankruptcy, cannot get any health insurance. Where does all this money go? It is also highly irregular that Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been underwritten by a major pharmaceutical company owned by an industrial chemical conglomerate, and this corporation has final say on all BCAW messaging, focusing on early detection and drug research, by which it stand to profit, and not on the potential environmental CAUSES of cancer, by which it and its parent company--major manufacturer of all sorts of environmental pollutants--could face significant financial losses. As with everything about this disease, information is power, and everyone should get past all of this pink crap and start looking at these serious conflicts of interest. Go to the bottom of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month website, you will see these words: "Copyright 2010 Astra-Zeneca."

Agree
I like you comment John. This BC Month is wearing peoples tolerance of organizations out begging for more money. Between American Cancer Society and pharmaceutical companies executives, all who are probably making BIG bucks, maybe an audit would do some good to see where the money really goes. It just might bring attention, unwanted, and help those who really need the help.