Las Vegas–June 26, 2009–Wearing pink for breast cancer, or buying pink products, is a demonstration of your support for the enslavement of women by a highly-unethical industry that seeks to turn women’s bodies into profit centers. Wearing pink shouts, “I support the ignorance of women! I support Big Pharma! I support male-dominated corporate control over the health of breasts!”Buying pink products sends the same message. Whether it’s a can of soup, tic tacs or even a pink “vacation” (yes, they do exist), these products are jumping on the pink bandwagon for one reason only: consumers buy it. Painting pink on any product results in a sales surge.

The marketing push for pink products is so strong that many companies are claiming to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufacture products that are linked to the disease. It’s a practice Breast Cancer Action calls “pinkwashing.” When you see things like toxic cosmetics and chemically-manufactured personal care products sporting the pink ribbons and pledging to support breast cancer research. Stop and ask yourself the obvious question: Don’t these products actually cause breast cancer? Yes, many of them do.

The truth is simple. There is no accountability in the donations stemming from the sales of such pink products. If, for example, you buy a can of soup branded with a pink ribbon, it may generate two cents in donations. And where do those donations go? Are they spent on nutritional education programs for men and women? Of course not – they often go into the pockets of pro-pharmaceutical non-profit groups that have very strong ties to drug companies and actually receive much of their funding from those companies. In effect, these are drug company “front groups” that engage in disease mongering and push mass screening in order to multiply the number of people being “treated” for breast cancer. The only allowed treatments, of course, are those that financially benefit the drug companies and conventional medicine practitioners.

Breast Cancer Action is sending out the message “Think before you pink!”

Think Before You Pink was launched in 2002 in response to the growing concern about the overwhelming number of pink ribbon products and promotions on the market. The campaign calls for more accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.

Before you buy a product with a pink ribbon on it to support the fight against breast cancer, ask yourself these key questions.

How much money actually goes toward breast cancer programs and services? Can you tell? Is it enough? If not, give directly to the charity instead. Where is the money going? What organization will get the money? If you can’t tell or you don’t know what the organization does, reconsider your purchase. What types of programs are being supported? If research, what kind? If services, are they reaching the people who need them most? Programs supporting “breast cancer awareness” ignore the fact that we are already aware that cancer is a problem and that we need to act in order to end the epidemic.

What is the company doing to assure that its products are not contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?
Is the company selling cosmetics that contain chemicals that have been linked to the disease? Is it urging consumers to buy a car that emits toxic air pollutants?

Don’t let a company’s “pinkwashing” divert attention from its product’s potential hazards.

Yolie DeHoyos
Contributing Writer for Fight Pink