Breast Cancer Blogosphere: Let the Comments Begin...

1. I've just been onto Breast Cancer Action's new Think Before You Pink blog, and wanted to share a comment that I posted on that site earlier today.  It pretty much sums up where my thinking is today on the Pink Ribbon cause.  For more on this debate, check out the original BCA post, "An Alternative to Pink October"
   
   
   
   Anna Rachnel says.......
   
   
   "First of all, thanks to BCA for giving us this forum and potentially very powerful tool in bringing some accountability and common-sense debate to the Pink Ribbon circus.
   
   
   Firstly to take issue with some of the comments. I am not bitter about the color pink, but I am bitter about having Stage 4 breast cancer at the age of 40. And I am bitter, that despite all the pink hoopla and pageantry, and billions of dollars of well-intentioned fundraising, that we are no closer to understanding why this disease is affecting so many and at younger and younger ages. I am bitter that all anybody, who doesn’t have breast cancer, seems to have been fed is the party-line that “Awareness Saves Lives”, all wrapped up in pretty pink ribbons.
   
   
   The message that has become clouded, and I fear all but forgotten, through pink-ribbon cause-related marketing and resulting consumer fatigue, is this. Breast Cancer is NOT a treatable chronic disease, but still a killer and one in which mortality rates have not significantly diminished since the early 70’s. To me “Awareness” simply means that breast cancer is being detected earlier, and rightly or wrongly being treated longer, with the outcome still not largely different.
   
   
   Do I sound pessimistic ? Sure, but can you blame me ? Am I thankful to be alive ? Yes. Do I need to walk around festooned in pink-ribbons being eternally grateful to the mighty benevolent corporations for raising money for a cause that I believe has gotten off track ? No I do not.
   
   
   Let’s take the fundraising back to grassroot causes (like BCA!) , demand some accountability and get to a situation where the average person can make an informed decision as to where their money is actually going and what it is being spent on, rather than hiding behind the vagaries of the “Pink Ribbon” culture and thinking that it is enough."