Randi Kreiss

The ‘pinking’ of America: part activism, part fraud

Posted

Breast cancer is big business in America today, and high season for the industry is October.

Personally (and it is personal), I feel exploited by the “pinking” of the world around me, from pink pancakes to pink coffee mugs, from $8 pink wristbands to $50 pink T-shirts. There is little or no oversight when it comes to tracking how much money raised in the name of “breast cancer awareness” actually goes to useful programs or research. Unless you give your donation directly to one of the rigorously monitored, A-rated charities like the Breast Cancer Research Foundation or the National Breast Cancer Foundation, you cannot know whether your dollars will be well spent.

In addition, there is reason to believe that many unscrupulous businesses use Breast Cancer Awareness Month to boost their own bottom lines. They put out a bin with pink flashlights or pink water bottles, promise that a “percentage” of the profit will go to “awareness,” and no one actually follows up to crunch the numbers or monitor the process.

Awareness isn’t the problem. Real dollars are needed for research. In the past decade, many of us have benefited from more finely calibrated treatments, which are the product of world-class research programs. Doctors have learned to offer women choices when the treatment path is unclear, and groups like www.breastcancer.org maintain comprehensive websites to help patients educate themselves about the various alternatives following diagnosis.

Real dollars are also needed to support women who cannot afford the initial screening tests, subsequent treatment or child care during chemotherapy or radiation. And those dollars, again, come directly from the vetted charities; therefore, donations should go to the same charities, not to the local market selling pink-washed pumpkins.

Some of the pink paraphernalia is downright offensive. Consider the Greenfield, Mass., Police Department, which is using pink handcuffs in its October campaign. In addition, officers have enlisted inmates to paint a cell pink as part of the . . . what, the trivialization of a devastating disease?

Page 1 / 3