My cat Cosette has a beautiful pink triangle shaped nose. And quite honestly, that’s the only pink object that I want to see in October. In case you’ve been living in a hermitage, or have somehow missed my other two posts (could that be possible???), October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Despite these chi chi “campaigns” and the onslaught of pink colored bons bons, frous frous, and other assorted junk (do you really need a Mercedes painted bubblegum pink), the incidence of breast cancer continues to rise.

Yes, pink campaigns are supposed to raise awareness, but do nothing to stem the tide. Awareness means that you are supposed to go and get mammograms in order to detect the cancer early, and cross your fingers and hope that you don’t come from a defective gene pool that encourages the growth of malignant cells in your boobs.

What the pink campaign doesn’t do, is spread the fact about the possible causes of breast cancer, beyond the routine that is dished out now.

Breast Cancer Action is one of the few groups that is actually addressing this issue. There is a reason that the rates of breast cancer have shot up so dramatically, and it has little to do with genes, the fact that more women are getting mammograms, or that life expectancy has increased.

From BCA:

There are over 8.9 million people living with cancer in the United States. One in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. Despite years of research, there is still a lot we don’t know about what is causing cancer. Hereditary factors only explain a small fraction of cancer cases. There is, however, growing evidence that various environmental toxins are contributing to our high rates of cancer and other diseases. While more research in the area of environmental links to health is needed (see Health-Track for one proposal to do this research), there is also enough evidence now to encourage us to decrease the use and production of environmental pollutants in an effort to stop the increasing rates of cancer.

Smoking became a campaign du jour, a causes celebre, and it suddenly became “okay” to bash the tobacco companies. Cigarette smoking became the poster child for all that was wrong with today’s health. While there is no doubt that tobacco is toxic, it most certainly is not the only carcinogen floating around in the environment. But the other toxins are seemingly off limits. The industries weld a lot of power, and the studies that demonstrate that the effect of many toxins such as pesticides, show strong associations with not only cancer but a host of other problems, are not covered by the press. They are also pooh-poohed. Not enough evidence, is the catchword.

A coalition of health and environmental groups called The Toxic Links Coalition (TLC) , of which Breast Cancer Action (BCA) is a member, discovered that the city of Berkeley was issuing a proclamation declaring October “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Frustrated by the fact that most breast cancer “awareness” campaigns do nothing more than encourage women to get their mammograms and virtually exclude all talk of preventing the disease, the Toxic Links Coalition decided to create its own proclamation. TLC’s document would be more than just a ceremonial proclamation—it would be a city resolution that included concrete steps that the city would take to limit toxins in the environment.

If you’re tired of seeing these silly pink campaigns, already feel about as aware as you’re going to be about the disease, and would like some real information about the causes of breast cancer–take a look at the Executive Summary of State of the Evidence: What Is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?

The entire report is also available on line, if you’d like something to curl up with on a rainy evening.

Want Some Answers?

Want some answers about your pink ribbons and candies? Is pasting a pink ribbon on your front door showing solidarity with your sisters? Or maybe if you go trick and treating as a pink colored witch? Will that help find the cure?

Sorry, but unless there’s a change in attitude, all those pennies are going down the drain, as they have been for the past 30 years. Think Pink campaigns seem to be designed to simply divert attention from the obvious. Read on:

Currently, there are more than 30 federal agencies and hundreds of foundations, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies conducting or funding research, but few—if any—are working together. In spite of all the research and fundraising, we still don’t have answers to key questions in breast cancer.

So that’s an issue right there? Why don’t they all join forces and share information? Think of the money wasted funding all of these different organizations, all that fundraising? Imagine if they were all linked together, with streamlined operations, and could spend most of the money on–duh—research? And all instantly share their findings with one another?

More than two million U.S. women are living with breast cancer. A woman’s lifetime risk of the disease is now one in eight. How to prevent the disease is still unknown.

At the federal level alone, many different agencies are funding breast cancer research, including the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Many states have their own research programs, and there are a number of private agencies, including the American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, that also fund research.

There is also funding from for-profit companies like Avon, Revlon, and Estee Lauder. And the pharmaceutical companies are also conducting breast cancer research.

Again, is this necessary? Money is being royally wasted funding duplicate research. And the sad thing is, where have they gotten with all of this research? Not very far.

From BCA:

The problem is that no one knows how much is spent each year on breast cancer research, and no coordination exists among these funding sources and research centers. And to the extent that research is funded, it is frequently funded in increments that prohibit scientists from pursuing answers to questions that require long-term studies.

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer today face essentially the same treatment options—surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy—that were offered when the “War on Cancer” was first declared 30 years ago. There have been some improvements in each of these types of treatment (most notably in surgery), but these are small gains when viewed in light of the amount of money invested.

Treatment has improved, but not by much. No grand and innovative treatments have arrived. Surgery has improved from the obligatory radical mastectomy to a lumpectomy in some cases, but medical treatments remain highly toxic. With all of the “awareness” and Pinky pinks, and all of the money thrown into this, you’d think we would be much further along. And I would have to say that any advancements in treatment and survival have been certainly offset by the alarmingly growing rate of breast cancer cases.

In terms of prevention, the only options available are powerful pills with dangerous side effects, and drastic surgery. The “prevention” promoted by the media, pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions are actually risk reduction measures, not real prevention. Many of these interventions create new health problems, resulting in disease substitution, rather than breast cancer prevention.

Little progress is being made because research is currently based in a hypothesis-driven model, in which well-meaning scientists and physicians decide what questions should be researched. A more effective approach would be for the affected community to ask scientists to answer their most pressing questions about breast cancer.

If you are really interested in doing something about breast cancer, like preventing it from taking hold in your own body, I’d strongly suggest avoiding the Pink Ribbon Trap, and go poking around the Breast Cancer Action website. And then take some real action.