Just Say No! to Exploitation of Breast Cancer

Do companies want you to be aware of Breast Cancer or are they just plain guilty so they keep seeking more ways to profit and more months in the year to conquer with such awareness. The Breast Cancer Awareness campaigning use to be October now the campaigns have spread to every month of the year. Yes to my queetion years ago, "Is Pink being Held Hostage?"

"Breast Cancer Awareness Month" came about from AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company (see Amanda's BlogHer post from yesterday on how drug companies profit from disease marketing) that also manufactures an herbicide known to cause cancer. As other companies jumped on the bandwagon, eager to sell their wares to women who want to do something they can feel good about, the number of products that have links to cancer that are being sold in the name of cancer awareness or even "cures" are concerning. Two prime examples are Revlon, which sponsors a run/walk for breast cancer research and contains high levels of toxic chemicals in some of its products, and Yoplait, whose ubiquitous pink lids must be sent in order for the company to make a donation and who may use dairy products with potentially cancer-causing hormones in them. If you think about it, the logic of buying a bag of pink M&Ms to help prevent breast cancer makes little sense given that obesity increases the risk of breast cancer. (See Breast Cancer Awareness's Think Before You Pink information for more details on cosmetic companies and breast cancer, as well as lists of products that do not use cancer-causing ingredients.)

--Pink Ribbon Madness