Breast Cancer Bonanza: Stop the Greed
October 28, 2009, by Cathy Fischer
“Angry Poop Bunny” by spidercamp on Etsy
Cathy Fischer is wondering how a month dedicated to something so important, could have become so irritating.
I don’t know what irks me more, being accosted by Christmas ads before Halloween, or being hit by the big pink tsunami that is…BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH.
Dancing reindeer or pink teddy bears? I’ll take the caribou, thank you.
The brilliant Barbara Ehrenreich, also a breast cancer survivor, is passionate about pink. In her new book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, she writes about how she’d rather get “hacked to death by a madman,” then suffocated by the “pink sticky sentiment” embodied by ribbon-wearing teddy bears.
I’ve noticed that I don’t’ wear pink very much. Not that pink doesn’t look good on me, it’s that I’ve had an aversion to the color ever since my diagnosis. A year ago, I voiced my not-so-rosy point of view in “My Big Pink Protest,” where I shared my dismay about October’s pinkness, and how threads of hypocrisy are woven throughout the fabric of many a “pink” product. These so-called charitable campaigns are about as authentic as a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake.
Luckily, my favorite breast cancer organization, Breast Cancer Action (BCA), is pouncing on the pink saccharine approach and turning it on its head.
BCA’s earlier “Think Before You Pink” campaign was a huge success. Letters of support, from people like you and me, urged General Mills to stop using dairy with rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) in Yoplait yogurt and other products. And they did! (rBGH is an artificial hormone given to cows to make them produce more milk. It’s been linked to breast cancer and other health problems and has been banned in Canada, Australia, Japan and the European Union.)
The General Mills turnaround is good news, and I’m thrilled, but there’s still much work to do. BCA has yet another fight to wage, this time it’s the mega-huge pharma company Eli Lilly—the sole manufacturer of rBGH. Lilly also manufactures breast cancer treatment medications and a pill that “reduces the risk” of breast cancer. It’s a circle of greed. As BCA puts it, “Eli Lilly is milking cancer” by making a product that causes people to need their other products and pretending it’s all for the public good. According to BCA, Eli Lilly’s cancer drugs made more than $2 billion for the company in 2008 and rBGH made them $985 million the same year.
What is it, in our food and in the environment? Why do Australia, Japan, Canada and the European Union ban a synthetic hormone that the U.S. doesn’t? The answer may be more complicated, but I chalk it up to greed. And one last question: How do the people who work for companies like Eli Lilly (not to mention Monsanto, Phillip Morris and the like) sleep at night?
Yes, I was transformed by my breast cancer experience. I’ve improved my life as a result of it—hard stuff is transformative and all that…BUT, I’m enraged that I, my mother, many of my friends and one in every eight women in this country have to deal with this disease, the barbaric treatments, surgeries and the aftermath. And what about the countless mothers, sisters, grandmothers and daughters who have died?
I’d like October to be a time to celebrate fall, my favorite season and the last refuge before the onslaught of holiday hawking. Who knows, maybe a few Octobers from now you’ll find me walking along a path of fallen leaves, amongst the bright yellows and vibrant reds, there I’ll be, wearing a lovely pink cardigan. Now wouldn’t that be something…
Stop the greed. Please take a minute to tell Eli Lilly to “stop milking cancer” >>
Have you found a meaningful way to acknowledge “awareness” in support of breast cancer survivors, research or prevention?
October 28th, 2009 at 6:51 am
EXCELLENT.
Usually I only read Pru B’s posts as she is a friend and I have little time – the intro to this one grabbed me. I just posted it on my FaceBook for good reason.
Thank you for this essay.
October 28th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Julie, thank you for your kind words and more importantly for spreading the word. It’s good to “meet” you. Any friend of Pru’s is certainly a friend of mine, aren’t we lucky to know her!
October 28th, 2009 at 8:31 am
One thing that cancer taught me was that I had to be the CEO of my body: ask questions, do the research, make a decision that will take me down the path of least regret. As I started getting nasty side effects from the drug I was taking, arimidex, I sought alternatives and got a list of supplements from my acupuncturists. The list included white mushrooms, to my oncologist’s amusement. Over a year later, here’s an article from Ralph Moss about…mushrooms!
http://www.cancerdecisions.com/content/view/280/2/lang,english/
October 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
You in a pink cardigan! NEVER! My grandmother, my stepmother, 3 best friends, my aunt…I am running out of fingers. I am dumbfounded (on my way to rage) that Eli Lilly produces the same artificial hormone that is linked to breast cancer and oh by the way they make one breast cancer treatment medications! What job security! Goddamn them!
And old Joe Lieberman is planning to filibuster on Universal Healthcare today because he is in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. Call him and unleash. His office 202-224-4047 or 866-220-0044 Switchboard, ask for Sen Lieberman’s office hit option 2 to talk to a real person because his VM box is full.
October 28th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Julie, how very lucky you are to be a survivor! First, breast cancer detection is so barbaric, we are still in the dark ages with all of the incredible technology today.
If Insurance companies would pay for for ultra-sounds in addition to mammo’s, woman would have a better chance to find out if their lymph nodes are enlarged or malignant under their arms. I am a lymphomia victim, no cure or chance of being a survivor. I would wear any color if they found a cure for viral cancer…..Pink is the color of love. A small sign to be grateful for overcoming a horrific, life threatening disease.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:02 am
LGold,
I absolutely agree about detection, my mammogram showed nothing and I had numerous small tumors in both breasts. I’m so sorry to read about your lymphomia. I’ve found that love, above all, has been the most healing element in my recovery, so if for you pink “is the color of love” then embrace it!
October 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am
No excuses allowed for the corporate pigs, Eli Lilly. Making a killing off of killing, whether it’s health care, war, or our environment, is where we end up when profit is king. I too, wonder how they sleep at night and what they tell their children.
Bless you survivors, and thank you for what you teach us.
October 28th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Brilliant blog, Cathy…we must stay pro-active re: ourselves and others. It’s shameful to think of what Eli Lilly is doing. Unfortunately, this kind of sh_t goes on everywhere. I love you, and come to think of it, I would never buy you something pink…
October 28th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Thank goodness, I didn’t get any of that sickly sweet pink merchandise from anyone I know, so I don’t have to apologize or seem an ingrate. It was just everywhere: doctor’s offices, printed materials, T-shirts,walks, runs, grocery store aisles, gift shops, oh the list goes on… But I did purchase that funny bunny, with its perfect pink sentiment, “poop.”
October 28th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
My mom just died last year after battling cancer for l0 years. She was my friend and my heroine. It started with breast cancer and spread. It was the most difficult, enlightening, sad, happy, loving, crying, soul searchng time in my life, and I am sure hers. My sister was with me and mom on this journey every step of the way. I am one of those that think yes, the pink thing has gone overboard. For my sister, however, it has been a life raft she has attached to. She has walked in breast cancer walks, had a pink tatoo put on, collected pink stuff and generally gone pink crazy. I am tempted at times to ask her if she doesn’t think she has gone overboard. Then I remember all the times she went “overboard” with my mom and the love she gave so willingly, the time she spent, the money she spent and the support she was to my mom. I stop myself and realize this pink stuff is her lifeline to my mom. I suppose there are worse addictions. I am only an observer of cancer and you are a survivor. I am in awe of you. I support and applaud your ability to voice your concerns over the pink craze. Most of all I am so happy that you are doing well and fought the good fight and won! Happy trails,
October 29th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Lori,
I’m so sorry you lost your mother to breast cancer. The way that cancer brings us closer to the ones we care about is one of the positive things about it. I am so lucky and so grateful to have gone through my journey with all the support of friends and loved ones, and even people I don’t know. Like you, many readers have reached to me out with kindness and support. (And to think I hesitated “coming out” about my bc for so long.) I’m also fortunate to have had resources such as health insurance and disability pay, access to excellent doctors and integrative health care, I wonder if your sister knows about that some companies use breast cancer pink for evil and not good, but perhaps that doesn’t even matter. You could send her the link to BCA. However, if pink means hope to your sister, then she should bathe, dress, and “walk” in it, and wear her tattoo proudly. Thank you for sharing your sad and beautiful story and I wish you and your family well.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:47 am
I love Mellimel’s call to action. This empowers me far more than wearing pink.
So I called Joe Lieberman’s office five times. The first, third, fourth and fifth times I was transferred to a “live” person, I got a busy signal. The second time, I was put on hold and then disconnected. Then, I remembered what Chris Matthews (CNBC political commentator) said on Bill Maher recently–that legislators weigh the amount of snail mail more heavily than phone messages and even email messages. So, for all who have access to a computer/printer, stamps and envelopes, here’s Senator Howdy Doody’s address:
The Honorable Senator Joe Lieberman
US Senate
706 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Write two extra letters for friends and family and ask them if you can sign for them or have them sign. If 100 of us do this, that’s 300 letters. Tell a friend and it’s even more…a landslide of letters. If that’s what it takes to get these wealthy idiots’(and by that I mean, Senators) attention, then that’s what we have to do. Write. Print. Sign. Seal. Deliver. Facebook and Twitter can wait.
And why not write for more BC research funding and an investigation into Eli Lilly’s double-dipping while we’re at it? Ask for the moon and you may get the stars.
Hang in there Cathy…you’re speaking truth to marketing.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I will never, ever forget the words of an unnamed haute coutour designer, who said when my client–a wealthy society woman who was funding a charity fashion show– stepped out of the room,
“All women over 50 think they look younger when they wear pink,” he sneered nodding at the door through which the attractive yet somewhat plastic-looking matron had just disappeared. “And it does nothing for her.”
Ouch.
But this does beg the question: Does wearing pink, buying pink oven mitts, pasting a pink looped ribbon bumper sticker on our cars, really DO anything? Anything other than enrich the coffers of marketing and manufacturing companies far and wide who make this emblematic stuff, ship it across the ocean in giant, carbon-spouting container ships, and then wag it under our noses enticing us with the thought that we’re somehow helping “solve” breast cancer with all this pink shit?
I simply don’t know.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Thanks for giving voice to what many feel but are unable to articulate. The “pink” thing and the marketing of breast cancer makes me a little queazy in the stomach, too. I’ve “been there and done that” and I don’t need a pink t-shirt to remind me.
I posted on my blog (Cool Things To Know About Radiation Therapy) how “annoyed” I was to get the diagnosis of breast cancer. Less frightened, less angry, more annoyed. The idea of being “in the system” is just so . . . annoying!!!! I understand that, like one of your readers pointed out about her sister, there are people who need the support of the whole pink community. I get that and I am happy that there’s something out there to help them get through the fear, pain and loss. But the greed factor is so very strong, it kinda snuffs out a big part of the benefit for me.
What Eli Lilly is doing is pretty much “business as usual” in this country. And we are the ones who have to change it by the educated decisions we make with out purchasing power.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I’m thrilled with these great ways we can turn anger into action! Link to BCA and send Lieberman a letter. Call, write, share … Thank you all for sharing your ideas, opinions and heartfelt stories. We are in this together. Amen!
October 29th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I’ve been trying to decide what is public enemy #1 lately. Big Pharma? Health insurance companies? Credit card companies? Oil companies? Or is it the so-called “blue dog democrats?” Help! I can’t decide!
October 29th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I agree with George Carlin on this one. Check him out at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
The rest of us are just pawns scrambling around for the crumbs.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Carine,
I’m scratching my head. I can’t pick a #1 public enemy. Today, it’s big pharma, tomorrow when I get dinged for paying my credit card in full, it’ll be the credit cards. I have a genetic testing company going back and forth with my insurance company, so really it just depends on the day, let the roulette wheel roll, pick an evil doer, any one will do.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Great call to action Warrior Women. Cat you have nailed the pink elephant in the room. This whole pink thing diverts us from real action, remember “Just Say No.” Thank you.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I have been suffering this attack of the Pink in silence, thinking how UnPC of me to complain. I hate pink! Always have; always will. But even if I didn’t, I would hate it now for the way the color has been usurped by advertisers hawking their products. This post needs to be seen in other venues…may I?
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Cathy,
Thank you so much for mentioning the work of Breast Cancer Action and our annual Think Before You Pink campaign. We appreciate you helping us get the word out about pink ribbon marketing. Please stay up to date on all of Breast Cancer Action’s campaigns and continue to help us challenge assumptions and inspire change.
Breast Cancer Action
bcaction.org
thinkbeforeyoupink.org
November 10th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Well, I know were in a big mess in this country.But, as far as the pink crusade in Oct I’m all for it. I am a breast cancer survior and anything that will help this cause is fine by me.
I lost my best friend of B/C due to lack of info and more knowledge on her part.
Every big company is out to get us all and we all know this. But, their isn’t much we can do about.
To even think there is a cure for CANCER, and the medical team’s,pharmacy ect are making big mega bucks to keep us at their mercy is in-human but, look around what is happening in this country. We are nothing but spec’s in this huge universe.
Powerful companies, will control what we take,eat and drink and if it makes us sick it’s more money for the powerful.
It’s a game of the big, biggest and most powerful!
April 21st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
What the Cluck? Tell KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure to stop pinkwashing!
With their “Buckets for the Cure” campaign, KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are telling us to buy buckets of unhealthy food to cure a disease that kills women. When a company purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribboned product, but manufactures products that are linked to the disease, we call that pinkwashing. Make no mistake–every pink bucket purchase will do more to benefit KFC’s bottom line than it will to cure breast cancer. Join us in telling KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure to rethink this pinkwashing partnership.
Breast Cancer Action
bcaction.org