October is one of my favorite months–except for this year, as its been so rainy. Then again, I’ve hardly been at home to really get too soaked. Have been orbiting around–first in Milan, then Vancouver, and more happy trails are lined up. I love Halloween, all that orange and black.

Notice, orange and black, not pink. No breast cancer “awareness” month for me. No frilly pink idiocy, pink ribbons pinned on my shirt, and doling out money to pink items that I don’t need or want, or have no idea if even one cent is going to breast cancer causes. Or if it is, exactly what cause and what will it be spent on.

In honor of Pepto Bismol month, the New York Times has a review of two breast cancer related books. Very appropriately, the title of the review is called Breast Cancer Tales: The Inspirational vs. the Actual.

The inspirational is a sweet memoir by Nancy Brinker, founder of Susan G Komen for the Cure, and really the person who is ultimately responsible for not only breast cancer awareness, but for turning breast cancer awareness into a combination circus and industry.

The other book, rips into the pinky sweet movement by “taking issue with the “she-ro” of the breast cancer movement — an idealized patient who is assertive and boundlessly optimistic, and remains feminine and sexy despite the depredations of disease and treatment. This paragon often uses a diagnosis of breast cancer as a catalyst for a personal transformation; she begins to “take time for me,” discovers “what’s important in life” and comes out of the experience a changed and better person.”

I have to give Brinker credit for bringing attention to a “women’s” issue at a time when women’s issues were pretty well ignored–other than the ever ongoing battle of abortion.  But I think Komen has evolved into a business, and the final straw was their partnership with Kentucky Fried Chicken–selling junk food in pink buckets. If you’re an advocate for breast cancer patients–then you have to draw the line somewhere. And that line is advocating food which can directly lead to a huge number of health problems and indirectly lead to cancer–including that of the breast.

At any rate, the only advocacy group that I really see working towards prevention is the Breast Cancer Action, and I mean real prevention, like taking on corporations, industry, regulatory bodies (like our friends at the FDA). They also have a fantastic “Think before you buy Pink” campaign which seeks to educate the consumer about pink buying and what you need to know.

So I continue to ignore pink. Instead, I am enjoying the reds, yellows, golds, of the fall season. And the orange and black of Halloween.

Time to take cover from the pink onslaught which begins today.

What pink onslaught, you ask? Why Breast Cancer Awareness month, when the world turns into one sickening shade of pink.

In fact, the pink has now crept out beyond October, and the rest of the year is becoming sporadically dotted with pink.

I can’t stand it. I think it is overdone, and quite honestly, I think its time to move on.Plus the pink propaganda can also be deceiving–a lot people buy pink stuff thinking they are helping a worthy cause, but instead, are just contributing to some company’s bottom line. None of the money spent on the pink frou frou may be going to breast cancer research, for example, as the pink items are notorious for omitting any information that tells you where the money is going, what percentage of the purchase price is going to research, etc. And thus far, almost none of the big “pink groups” has done anything to try to reign in the fraud.

There is an interesting article in the LA Times about downside of the so-called awareness campaigns. This  is what I found very disturbing:

“If it’s not broken, I don’t think we should try and fix it,” said spokeswoman Laurie Casaday, senior manager of corporate affairs in oncology for drug maker AstraZeneca, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month’s founding sponsor.

The campaign’s website states that the organization remains “dedicated to educating and empowering women to take charge of their own breast health by practicing regular self-exams to identify any changes, scheduling regular visits and annual mammograms with their healthcare provider, adhering to prescribed treatment and knowing the facts about recurrence.”

Other campaign literature highlights the stories of women who believe their lives were saved by a screening test. But the unsettling reality is that many of these lives were never actually threatened, says Gayle A. Sulik, author of “Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health.”

Sulik says the problems of over-diagnosis and over-treatment are rarely discussed in ads, promotional literature or advocacy messages. Neither of those terms appears anywhere on the websites for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month or Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the oldest and largest breast cancer advocacy group.

But note, nothing is said about real prevention in the campaign’s mission. Overdiagnosis aside, there is not one peep about preventing the disease to begin with. Mammography is not prevention, it is a screening tool and a diagnostic tool. It can only tell you what’s there. Taking charge of your health goes beyond a visit to the doctor or looking for lumps. You want to prevent the lumps, but real prevention involves taking on powerful industries–the kind who make junk food, pesticides, toxic household cleaners, the chemicals that go into cosmetics and toiletries, etc.

It means taking on the FDA and forcing them to do their job. It means a lot of things that the major advocacy groups don’t want to talk about.  And women themselves, I think, prefer to think that all they have to do is wear pink ribbons, and breast cancer will be cured. Many do not want to be inconvenienced by having to exercise, or lose weight, or give up happy hour every day, or their breakfast donuts.

Anyway, this is the only post I am going to make about pink, unless there is something else really juicy in the news. Otherwise, I plan to ignore it. I will not buy anything pink colored, or even wear pink. That’s my political statement!