Article in Newsweek

I think it is great that the world is aware of bc but some of this pink ribbon stuff is a bit much. Creepy Culture of course is stupid coming from someone who has had cancer. We should be asking more then we do where this money is going. A great deal of money goes to drug companies to develop more chemos. More money needs to be spent on why we are getting cancer, what we are doing to our food and water. Alternative treatments are getting no money. I was at my GP yesterday and he precribed 50,000 units of vitamin D once a week. I refused all other bone builders as they are drugs with many side effects. He said there was a study on Vitamin D in this amount making cancer tumor unable to grow. So I asked why no further studies on this and he said there is no money to be made in something you can't patent. For me I would rather not advertise I have had cancer but for those who like pink ribbons they are pretty. God Bless Linda

I didn't see the article but I must say it strikes a chord with me. I know that there are companies who really do care and want to help BC. But I also know the world of marketing and I am afraid "our" disease is getting exploited in order to sell a mascara.
Creepy? That is off base. Opportunistic? Some companies ARE.

Personally I like to know exactly where the money is going. I support the ACS and a NIH research lab in my area that works specifically on BC. I know that the money I give them goes DIRECTLY to where we need it the most.

Calling the BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MOVEMENT a 'creepy culture' is WRONG and backward thinking. BUT I would give all my pink ribbons- give back Breast Cancer Awareness month in exchange for one breakthrough- one easier treatment that attacks JUST the cancer and not the rest of us.

I really hate it when some organizations have to take it to such an extreme though and insult the very group of people that is there with welcoming arms ready to help them with their BC journey. I think that Breast Action Group should lighten up a bit!

But remember- every cent is precious. Make sure you are giving your money to the place that uses it the most FOR US.

Just my crazy opinion.

Angela

I read a similar article in one of my fitness magazines. Not everyone who has had breast cancer wants to be identified as a breast cancer victim or survivor or whatever. This is an individual reaction. All charities must be held accountable for the funds they raise and raising a large amount of money doesn't necessarily guarantee a cure! However, I am really glad that breast cancer is out of the closet, so to speak. Women can talk about their experience, share their knowledge and wear pink ribbons if they want. Not everyone will become a bc volunteer or dedicate their lives to finding a cure and that is fine. 'Creepy culture' is a little out of line because women can find hope in being around other survivors. Breast cancer isn't a cult! Fior some people, having cancer is so awful they just want to forget it ever happened. That may be the only way they can handle it! Personally, I have one pink ribbon pin and that was a gift from another bc survivor. To each his or her own!

Hi Jan:

Just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in here on this one:

It's always imperative that we fully research the financial statements of any organisations who
are touting "charity" donations from sales of any items. Pink ribbons included. Sometimes, less than one may think actually goes to the "cause".
Always good to know what we're contributing to and exactly how it's spent/allocated.

The fact of our capitalist society is that money rules. It comes before health, emotion, family,
environment...you name it. It's just the way it is. Most of these companies are also doing themselves a huge favor with the free advertising and publicity they net from "supporting" a cause.
Just a fact. Otherwise, they'd not bother in 99.9 percent of cases. A simple marketing tool known as return on investment. The "return" value of a company logo and/or company name appearing, even for a second, on any public media, particularly tv, is astronomical. When that name/logo is spoken by a reporter, it becomes even more valuable to the company. Just fact.

Facts and acceptance of them aside, the real value, as far as I'm concerned, is the AWARENESS all the hooplah brings to women. The importance of self exams and regular gynecological breast exams with mammo. In essence, my response is:
Let them eat cake. I don't mind their doing so because that's the only way a strong message can get out. In other words, let them profit, let them even exploit...the louder the message, even if it is financially rewarding to the company in the long haul, the message still has great AWARENESS potential value for women the world over. That's the ONLY value in my opinion.

Do I rush out and purchase every item I can find to help the "cause". No, I certainly do not. Why? because I do not believe the "cause" is simply more debilitating prescription drugs (chemo's in various and sundry cocktails and combinations, etc.) I believe the only real worthwhile research should target why we get cancer. (In addition to alternative treatments of course) This isn't being done because we ARE a capitalist society here in the US and no one has yet devised a method to make huge profits on these approaches. Money is the machine. We feed it. As do people suffering from a horde of other ailments who are looped into the array of prescription pharmaceutical treatments (as the ONLY OPTION according to MD's who prescribe them), along with the hospitals, labs and other facilities in that web. Cancer of any kind is a huge financial boon to these institutions. We're given few to zero options. If the medical community cured us, then they'd lose those billion's. Each of us must make our own determinations about how motivated these institutions may be to find a "cure".

Back to the question of why we get cancer. It's simple really. If we read the labels on our over refined, additive ridden foods, we can begin to get an idea. If we look into the commercial beef industry in the US, we may just come away vowing never to touch the stuff again. Same with the poultry industry. And I don't even want to get started on the fish industry in the US, not to mention the huge amounts of fish we import! If we look at the dangerous, toxic, carcinogenic
gunk with which we pollute the world oceans, we may well vow never to eat fish again either. While we need and benefit from those Omega 3's, remember that mercury (as one prevalent example) can't be any better metabolized OUT of a fish body, than out of our own. Mercury is one of those elements which remains in our bodies. Over time, the accumulation can be debilitating, even deadly. That's just a tiny tip of the iceberg.

Our potable water is incredibly polluted in the US. I think we all understand this one.

Our air is rife with toxic chemicals of all manner and even some which combine to virtually defy scientific analysis. Damaged/altered DNA is no mystery! Most of us will suffer ill health effects just because of living in our dangerous environment, if we live long enough that is.

We need serious environmental legislation which is ENFORCED, if any of this is going to change. It's our only hope of leaving our children and our grandchildren a better world to live and breathe in.

If we follow our Senate and Congressional proceedings, bills and amendments to those bills, we can clearly see the answers to these problems are, at best, only a cursory bandaid, placed temporarily, to appease the environmental lobbyist on occasion.
Often, bills which ever actually pass, are amended or watered down over the next few years and/or written not to take effect for 10 years!
They help little because the changing of the guard in DC happens several times over such a period of time and the bills are either scrapped or amended so they no longer even resemble the original intent/purpose. And we all know well that the EPA, DEP and FDA are understaffed, so few inspections actually take place. When they do, the companies are typically given notice of the "surprise" inspection. Of course, the inspections ultimately pass, with those advance notices. Little to no inspections, no fines, no shutdowns; all equal no improvement. Why? We're talking BIG business with BIG money and they don't hesitate to throw it in the right direction. These businesses have their own lobbyist in Washington with the sole purpose of continuing business as usual. They'd rather spend part of their profits on continuing business as usual than spend it on making the business operate environmentally safe and sound. So, they want no environmental bills passed which would force them to make changes. They want their profits to remain very high, with business as usual. Livestock must grow fast and fat. Quick turnover is profitable. Growth hormones and estrogens are essential to meet that profit and supply goal. End of story. There are more than a few countries who will not even allow imports of US produced livestock/poultry! So these producers aren't about to be selling pink ribbons or anything else pink. That yogurt companies have jumped on the bandwagon is quite a contradiction in terms really. Yogurt is a dairy product. What's in there?

I know, I'm on a roll here but the point is that
it's important not to be "duped" with some of this stuff and walk away feeling good when we may have just contributed to something which is miserably failing to address the issue of "cause and effect" Know what you're contributing to and where it's actually going. Decide if that's where you want it to go. Decide how much confidence any organisation warrants and carry on.

Perhaps the survivor quoted in the article which bothered you, is simply coming from a similar position to my own. I have no idea, not having read or researched the article. My bottom line is that merely throwing more money into the pharmaceutical industry is not going to cure cancer and it certainly isn't going to address the cause of cancer. "Preventing cancer" is a great media catch phrase but before we can effectively do that we must first address the environmental causes and then we'll be able to make some REAL progress. Just what I believe.

As an environmental activist of many, many years, I've learned a lot. Particularly that we can get no place on Capitol Hill from an emotional point of view, in small groups. We need huge, logically focused numbers armed with the science to back up statements, in addition to people who know their way around within the political system. Anything less nets nothing and doesn't even gain a serious ear. To politician's we're just "voters" and unless huge numbers of us show up, well informed, well prepared and well set on the finances, we have little power. Even our efforts require huge sums of money!

Needless to say, my contributions go to environmental organisations with spotless conflict of interest and financial records. It really is a "to each their own" approach. My support will never go to any business which, in my opinion, perpetuates known environmental/health hazards, environmental destruction and pollution.

It CAN be a dilemma to have survived cancer and then feel guilty to not support what you may feel actually saved your life with chemo, radiation, tamoxifens, etc.. Trust me, these companies and organisations know well, our and our families emotional status following treated cancer or death due to cancer. Yet, it's all that's offered and available through the traditional medical and scientific communities so they hit us from all sided to give, give, give.

We want to live, so we take what's available, more often than not. This is just how it is. Yet, it's interesting that no one can say that chemo actually "cures" cancer.
That tamoxifen or anything else actually prevents recurrence. We take it and we live, we take it and we don't. It's always a risk for us.
Sometimes it is thought to work and sometimes not. Do we live because of the chemo and rads or do we live in spite of it? Tough questions without ready answers. In the end, the profit machine keeps churning. I've not heard of any cancer treatment centers going out of business lately, pharmaceuticals the world over are booming and likely will continue to do so. No cures on the horizon. Huge sums are thrown into research on such things as snake venom to treat bc! Now, we find that some of the arthritis drugs can be very dangerous to our hearts! The latest is that Botox can help relieve the pain associated with bc. Ah, the botox...where will that be in 10 or 15 years? And what's with all that drug advertising on tv anymore? We CAN'T write scripts so why target us? How much less expensive might our drugs be without that huge advertising tab??? Ask your doctor the ads insist! We're being manipulated to beg our doctor's to give us a purple pill or the allergy stuff that is a sure cure. Then come the side effects list. Some are horrendous. May be better to suffer the ailment in the long run? LOL

I do have several pink ribbons which were gifts from friends. I don't wear them but if I were going to DC on a bc crusade, yeah, I'd wear them as they would readily identify my cause and purpose there. If I didn't already have ribbons and I needed one for a specific purpose, I'd probably just make one. I have no reason to wear a pink ribbon every place I go, unless I wanted people to ask me about it, it's purpose and significance, etc.. Which I'm not into. My bc experience is not something I choose to wear either on my sleeve or my lapel. I also don't own anything else pink for bc. I'm not about just bc. I support several causes, all equally important to me yet I don't wear things on my person which advertise it. I'm more about
healthy emotional recoveries for us all, in spite of our doctor's basically ignoring the emotional after effects of treatment and/or just medicating us so they don't have to hear about it anymore. I'm about information and resources to help us live our best lives, to eat as healthy as possible, to take whatever supplements benefit us, to take good care of ourselves and those we love and care about. Exploring options. I have to work within what I feel is the best avenues for positive change and progress, as do each of us. We must choose for ourselves.

While I'm not insulted by someone else's opinions and thoughts which are diametrically opposed to my own, I will debate the issues long and hard. Being open is a good avenue to learning and growing and I'm always about that!

I've likely bored some, outraged others and hopefully given a few food for thought yet I make no apologies. I simply must live by my own convictions so I consider it all ok.

So, those who feel good about ribbons and the companies selling them, by all means, buy them.
It is YOU who must feel comfortable with and good about what you choose to support or do, whether it's bc or any other cause. Don't let conflicting opinions get you down. Research, learn and proceed with what's best for YOU. Your choice, your life. While I wouldn't choose the words "creepy culture" to describe some of what goes on with these "drives" and fundraising efforts with bc, aids or anything else, I would simply say that it's capitalism at it's best.

Love, light and laughter,
Ink

tlmac said:

I think that the good which could be accomplished from corporate involvement in monies for research is immeasurable but I'm a realist. The law should require that any commercial business involved in sales that are advertised to benefit a charity or a cause, should have to publish the percentage of every dollar that will actually go to the charity or cause as well as the percentage that will go to their shareholders. I'd love to believe that no one could take advantage of something as horrid as a cancer diagnosis to boost sales for corporate gain. Unfortunately, I don't. How sad is that?
terri

Not just sad Terri, the exploitation of the "pink ribbon" is criminal injustice. Personal opinion, companies should be ashamed of using our tragic circumstances as a "valuable marketing resource". IF said companies were truely altruistic they would simply donate the funds made from sales to research. They could even claim a tax write off. Instead they create whole new administrative departments, committees and marketing divisions to "handle" the promotion of "pink ribbon" products. By the time they pay for these 'valid' expences, the percent donated is reduced significantly. All very legal, it creates jobs, it promotes breast cancer awareness, but what is the motive?
To fund research or to sell products?
Who cares the end justifies the means, right?
Well I care! I do not like being exploited. I do not like being referred to as a
"valuable market resource". I am sick of seeing funds raised and then dumped into a research system that insists on researching different combinations of "poisen and burn". An archaic system that refuses to think outside of the box, ignores alternative therapy and through guilt and scare tactics sucks patients into its abyss of monetary profits which apparently negates the loss of human life.
It's not the pink ribbon I object to, I have one for every year of survival pinned to my sunvisor in my car. I don't ask passengers to donate to research in return for riding in my car and then donate 30% and keep the other 70% for expences incurred. Although...it may not be a bad idea...ahhh, the lure of money.
Bravo to you INK, excellent presentation as always. Agree with you 99%...the only problem with that is I do miss the great debates! LOL
If we really want to do something about cancer we need to unify our cause, solidify our masses and rectify a change.
It would take a lot of hard work, but if this is our battle in life shouldn't we make it a war?
A war we can win. After all we are the consumer here, the companies should be catering to our needs. Without a market one cannot make a profit.
Knowledge is power and through sites like this we are gaining knowledge.
hummingbyrd
www.defeatcancer.org

inkblot said:

Hi Jan:

Just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in here on this one:

It's always imperative that we fully research the financial statements of any organisations who
are touting "charity" donations from sales of any items. Pink ribbons included. Sometimes, less than one may think actually goes to the "cause".
Always good to know what we're contributing to and exactly how it's spent/allocated.

The fact of our capitalist society is that money rules. It comes before health, emotion, family,
environment...you name it. It's just the way it is. Most of these companies are also doing themselves a huge favor with the free advertising and publicity they net from "supporting" a cause.
Just a fact. Otherwise, they'd not bother in 99.9 percent of cases. A simple marketing tool known as return on investment. The "return" value of a company logo and/or company name appearing, even for a second, on any public media, particularly tv, is astronomical. When that name/logo is spoken by a reporter, it becomes even more valuable to the company. Just fact.

Facts and acceptance of them aside, the real value, as far as I'm concerned, is the AWARENESS all the hooplah brings to women. The importance of self exams and regular gynecological breast exams with mammo. In essence, my response is:
Let them eat cake. I don't mind their doing so because that's the only way a strong message can get out. In other words, let them profit, let them even exploit...the louder the message, even if it is financially rewarding to the company in the long haul, the message still has great AWARENESS potential value for women the world over. That's the ONLY value in my opinion.

Do I rush out and purchase every item I can find to help the "cause". No, I certainly do not. Why? because I do not believe the "cause" is simply more debilitating prescription drugs (chemo's in various and sundry cocktails and combinations, etc.) I believe the only real worthwhile research should target why we get cancer. (In addition to alternative treatments of course) This isn't being done because we ARE a capitalist society here in the US and no one has yet devised a method to make huge profits on these approaches. Money is the machine. We feed it. As do people suffering from a horde of other ailments who are looped into the array of prescription pharmaceutical treatments (as the ONLY OPTION according to MD's who prescribe them), along with the hospitals, labs and other facilities in that web. Cancer of any kind is a huge financial boon to these institutions. We're given few to zero options. If the medical community cured us, then they'd lose those billion's. Each of us must make our own determinations about how motivated these institutions may be to find a "cure".

Back to the question of why we get cancer. It's simple really. If we read the labels on our over refined, additive ridden foods, we can begin to get an idea. If we look into the commercial beef industry in the US, we may just come away vowing never to touch the stuff again. Same with the poultry industry. And I don't even want to get started on the fish industry in the US, not to mention the huge amounts of fish we import! If we look at the dangerous, toxic, carcinogenic
gunk with which we pollute the world oceans, we may well vow never to eat fish again either. While we need and benefit from those Omega 3's, remember that mercury (as one prevalent example) can't be any better metabolized OUT of a fish body, than out of our own. Mercury is one of those elements which remains in our bodies. Over time, the accumulation can be debilitating, even deadly. That's just a tiny tip of the iceberg.

Our potable water is incredibly polluted in the US. I think we all understand this one.

Our air is rife with toxic chemicals of all manner and even some which combine to virtually defy scientific analysis. Damaged/altered DNA is no mystery! Most of us will suffer ill health effects just because of living in our dangerous environment, if we live long enough that is.

We need serious environmental legislation which is ENFORCED, if any of this is going to change. It's our only hope of leaving our children and our grandchildren a better world to live and breathe in.

If we follow our Senate and Congressional proceedings, bills and amendments to those bills, we can clearly see the answers to these problems are, at best, only a cursory bandaid, placed temporarily, to appease the environmental lobbyist on occasion.
Often, bills which ever actually pass, are amended or watered down over the next few years and/or written not to take effect for 10 years!
They help little because the changing of the guard in DC happens several times over such a period of time and the bills are either scrapped or amended so they no longer even resemble the original intent/purpose. And we all know well that the EPA, DEP and FDA are understaffed, so few inspections actually take place. When they do, the companies are typically given notice of the "surprise" inspection. Of course, the inspections ultimately pass, with those advance notices. Little to no inspections, no fines, no shutdowns; all equal no improvement. Why? We're talking BIG business with BIG money and they don't hesitate to throw it in the right direction. These businesses have their own lobbyist in Washington with the sole purpose of continuing business as usual. They'd rather spend part of their profits on continuing business as usual than spend it on making the business operate environmentally safe and sound. So, they want no environmental bills passed which would force them to make changes. They want their profits to remain very high, with business as usual. Livestock must grow fast and fat. Quick turnover is profitable. Growth hormones and estrogens are essential to meet that profit and supply goal. End of story. There are more than a few countries who will not even allow imports of US produced livestock/poultry! So these producers aren't about to be selling pink ribbons or anything else pink. That yogurt companies have jumped on the bandwagon is quite a contradiction in terms really. Yogurt is a dairy product. What's in there?

I know, I'm on a roll here but the point is that
it's important not to be "duped" with some of this stuff and walk away feeling good when we may have just contributed to something which is miserably failing to address the issue of "cause and effect" Know what you're contributing to and where it's actually going. Decide if that's where you want it to go. Decide how much confidence any organisation warrants and carry on.

Perhaps the survivor quoted in the article which bothered you, is simply coming from a similar position to my own. I have no idea, not having read or researched the article. My bottom line is that merely throwing more money into the pharmaceutical industry is not going to cure cancer and it certainly isn't going to address the cause of cancer. "Preventing cancer" is a great media catch phrase but before we can effectively do that we must first address the environmental causes and then we'll be able to make some REAL progress. Just what I believe.

As an environmental activist of many, many years, I've learned a lot. Particularly that we can get no place on Capitol Hill from an emotional point of view, in small groups. We need huge, logically focused numbers armed with the science to back up statements, in addition to people who know their way around within the political system. Anything less nets nothing and doesn't even gain a serious ear. To politician's we're just "voters" and unless huge numbers of us show up, well informed, well prepared and well set on the finances, we have little power. Even our efforts require huge sums of money!

Needless to say, my contributions go to environmental organisations with spotless conflict of interest and financial records. It really is a "to each their own" approach. My support will never go to any business which, in my opinion, perpetuates known environmental/health hazards, environmental destruction and pollution.

It CAN be a dilemma to have survived cancer and then feel guilty to not support what you may feel actually saved your life with chemo, radiation, tamoxifens, etc.. Trust me, these companies and organisations know well, our and our families emotional status following treated cancer or death due to cancer. Yet, it's all that's offered and available through the traditional medical and scientific communities so they hit us from all sided to give, give, give.

We want to live, so we take what's available, more often than not. This is just how it is. Yet, it's interesting that no one can say that chemo actually "cures" cancer.
That tamoxifen or anything else actually prevents recurrence. We take it and we live, we take it and we don't. It's always a risk for us.
Sometimes it is thought to work and sometimes not. Do we live because of the chemo and rads or do we live in spite of it? Tough questions without ready answers. In the end, the profit machine keeps churning. I've not heard of any cancer treatment centers going out of business lately, pharmaceuticals the world over are booming and likely will continue to do so. No cures on the horizon. Huge sums are thrown into research on such things as snake venom to treat bc! Now, we find that some of the arthritis drugs can be very dangerous to our hearts! The latest is that Botox can help relieve the pain associated with bc. Ah, the botox...where will that be in 10 or 15 years? And what's with all that drug advertising on tv anymore? We CAN'T write scripts so why target us? How much less expensive might our drugs be without that huge advertising tab??? Ask your doctor the ads insist! We're being manipulated to beg our doctor's to give us a purple pill or the allergy stuff that is a sure cure. Then come the side effects list. Some are horrendous. May be better to suffer the ailment in the long run? LOL

I do have several pink ribbons which were gifts from friends. I don't wear them but if I were going to DC on a bc crusade, yeah, I'd wear them as they would readily identify my cause and purpose there. If I didn't already have ribbons and I needed one for a specific purpose, I'd probably just make one. I have no reason to wear a pink ribbon every place I go, unless I wanted people to ask me about it, it's purpose and significance, etc.. Which I'm not into. My bc experience is not something I choose to wear either on my sleeve or my lapel. I also don't own anything else pink for bc. I'm not about just bc. I support several causes, all equally important to me yet I don't wear things on my person which advertise it. I'm more about
healthy emotional recoveries for us all, in spite of our doctor's basically ignoring the emotional after effects of treatment and/or just medicating us so they don't have to hear about it anymore. I'm about information and resources to help us live our best lives, to eat as healthy as possible, to take whatever supplements benefit us, to take good care of ourselves and those we love and care about. Exploring options. I have to work within what I feel is the best avenues for positive change and progress, as do each of us. We must choose for ourselves.

While I'm not insulted by someone else's opinions and thoughts which are diametrically opposed to my own, I will debate the issues long and hard. Being open is a good avenue to learning and growing and I'm always about that!

I've likely bored some, outraged others and hopefully given a few food for thought yet I make no apologies. I simply must live by my own convictions so I consider it all ok.

So, those who feel good about ribbons and the companies selling them, by all means, buy them.
It is YOU who must feel comfortable with and good about what you choose to support or do, whether it's bc or any other cause. Don't let conflicting opinions get you down. Research, learn and proceed with what's best for YOU. Your choice, your life. While I wouldn't choose the words "creepy culture" to describe some of what goes on with these "drives" and fundraising efforts with bc, aids or anything else, I would simply say that it's capitalism at it's best.

Love, light and laughter,
Ink

You are very, very appreciated. A humble thank you from deep within.
Never cease to amaze me. *smiles*
~marty

Ink and Hummingbyrd, I loved your answers to this thread, the both of you say so well how I feel about where money is spent on cancer and very little is where we need it. God Bless. Linda