Komen for the Cure’s Biggest Mistake Is About Science, Not Politics

Title: Komen for the Cure’s Biggest Mistake Is About Science, Not Politics

Author: Christie Aschwanden

Publication:  Discover Magazine (This post originally ran on the blog Last Word on Nothing.)

Date: February 10, 2012

The Planned Parenthood debacle brought renewed attention to other controversies about Komen from recent years—like its “lawsuits for the cure” program that spent nearly $1 million suing groups like “cupcakes for the cure” and “kites for the cure” over their daring attempts to use the now-trademarked phrase “for the cure.” Critics also pointed to Komen’s relentless marketing of pink ribbon-themed products, including a Komen-branded perfume alleged to contain carcinogens, and pink buckets of fried chicken, a campaign that led one rival breast cancer advocacy group to ask, “what the cluck?”…

But these problems are minuscule compared to Komen’s biggest failing—its near outright denial of tumor biology…the notion that breast cancer is a uniformly progressive disease that starts small and only grows and spreads if you don’t stop it in time is flat out wrong. I call it breast cancer’s false narrative, and it’s a fairy tale that Komen has relentlessly perpetuated…

Komen isn’t wrong to encourage women to consider mammography. But they’re dead wrong to imply that “the key to surviving breast cancer” is “you” and the difference between a 98% survival rate and a 23% one is vigilance on the part of the victim. This message flies in the face of basic cancer biology…

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Detailing the problems of ‘breast cancer culture’

Title: Detailing the problems of ‘breast cancer culture’

Author: Anna Holmes

Publication: The Washington Post

Publication Date: February 09, 2012

…Although the mainstreaming of breast cancer activism and awareness is a triumph of marketing and outreach, its ubiquity has come at a cost – or depending on your point of a view, a profit – in the form of hundreds if not thousands of new or retooled consumer products. Cars, makeup, vacuum cleaners, stuffed animals, NFL and MLB apparel . . . all these and more have, at one point or another over the past few decades, been slapped with a fresh coat of (pink) paint and the imprimatur of any number of breast cancer charities, including Komen and the other behemoth in the breast cancer space, the Avon Foundation…

pink ribbons, pink ribboned-consumer goods and associated runs, walks and jumps “for the cure” have become so commonplace and therefore benign that we hardly notice them; we’re anesthetized to this major killer of women to the point that it’s almost accepted as a rite of passage, not a profoundly painful experience. The color has been promoted as fashionable, a shorthand for a sort of optimism and positivity – what [Samantha] King calls the “tyranny of cheerfulness” – that threatens to obscure much of the justifiable grief, frustration and fear that accompany the epidemic, not to mention the hypocrisies of the companies who benefit from it…

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Komen charity under microscope for funding, science

Title: Komen charity under microscope for funding, science

Author: Sharon Begley

Publication:  Reuters

Date: February 7, 2012

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity defines its mission as finding a cure for breast cancer. In recent years, however, it has cut by nearly half the proportion of fund-raising dollars it spends on grants to scientists working to understand the causes and develop effective new treatments for the disease…

Critics within the philanthropic and research communities in particular have raised questions over its scientific approach to some issues and how it spends the money it raises…

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Susan G. Komen for the Cure® – No More Apologies!

Title:  Susan G. Komen for the Cure® – No More Apologies!

Author: Nancy Stordahl

Publication:  Nancy’s Point blog

Publication Date: August 12, 2011

There has been a lot of discussion recently in the blogosphere about Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. I believe the rumblings are starting to be heard. Now the question is will Komen begin to listen? Like I’ve always told my students, there is a huge difference between hearing and listening.

For the record, Komen describes itself as,

—the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists – the only grassroots organization fighting to cure breast cancer at every stage, from the causes to the cures and the pain and anxiety of every moment in between.

Komen’s stated mission is:

to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures.

Like many bloggers, I’ve been thinking about this organization of late and how it seems to have failed in the above stated mission.

But this particular post isn’t really about that success or failure.

Mostly, what I want to address today is why I have felt so uncomfortable criticizing Komen in the past.

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Komen’s pink ribbons raise green, and questions

Title: Komen’s pink ribbons raise green, and questions

Author: Liz Szabo

Publication: USA Today

Publication Date: July 18, 2011

Supporters of Susan G. Komen for the Cure are used to seeing the group’s founder, Nancy Brinker, at fundraisers such as Race for the Cure.

But some breast cancer survivors said they were surprised to see Brinker recently on the Home Shopping Network selling perfume. The new fragrance, called Promise Me, comes in a rose-colored bottle with Komen’s trademarked pink ribbon, and its manufacturer has pledged to donate at least $1 million to the charity. The perfume is the latest in a long line of products bearing Komen’s pink ribbon, from kitchen mixers to gardening gloves, that have helped the group raise $1.9 billion for breast cancer causes.

And though some of Komen’s marketing partners have become the butt of jokes (KFC’s pink “Buckets for the Cure” was even satirized on The Colbert Report last year), none of these pink-ribboned products has angered as many breast cancer survivors as the new fragrance.

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Enter the Komen Bandits — Racing With A Message for BC Mets

Title: Enter the Komen Bandits — Racing With A Message for BC Mets

Author: Gayle Sulik

Publication: Pink Ribbon Blues blog

Publication Date: June 4, 2011

This weekend marks the 22nd annual Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure® 5K at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Nearly 40,000 people participated and the event raised more than $5 million. Reports of the race festivities are awash with celebrity, festivity, performance, and unbridled enthusiasm.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s founder, Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, “charged up the crowd, noting that the sea of pink making their way up the National Mall was a bold statement by this community that we will not rest until our promise to end breast cancer forever is fulfilled.” She went on to say that, “If my sister Suzy were here today, she would take joy in the inspiration you provide. She’d take pride that in a politically divided city, there is unity on this issue. She’d take comfort in the fact that hopes are high, and that a cure is near.”

SGK social media was all a twitter with live feeds from the race revealing a mood that was triumphant, proud, and promising while solidifying the message that Komen is responsible for progress.

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Komen Has Crossed The Line

Title: Komen Has Crossed The Line

Author: Chemobabe

Publication: Chemobabe blog

Publication Date: May 28, 2011

While I have had fun making fun of all the pink crap that purports to support breast cancer patients, I have avoided direct criticism of the Susan Komen Foundation. Until now.

It’s not just because they are one of the top two most trusted nonprofit brands and I want to stay in my readers’ good graces. I respect you too much to pander like that.

I have hesitated because of people like this:

I don’t know these women. I got their picture off Flickr.

They are completely fabulous though.

I know women who have felt transformed by the Three Day Walks, Komen’s signature event. I cannot overstate their symbolic power.  They provide community. They make a natural place for a comeback from treatment or even grief. They are a way of giving cancer the middle finger. The feeling of unity and purpose at these events humbles me.

How can you criticize an organization that makes these experiences possible?

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Tie a pink ribbon ’round that old deadly tumor.

Title: Tie a pink ribbon ’round that old deadly tumor.

Author: rjheart

Publication: Open Salon blog: Welcome to My World

Publication Date: April 10, 2011

The Susan G. Komen foundation was founded in 1982 following the death of Susan Komen, sister of Nancy Brinker. Nancy Brinker is the founder and CEO of one of the most powerful and profitable “non-profits” in the world. Susan Komen died after three years of fighting breast cancer. She was diagnosed at a time when little was known about this deadly disease. People would cross the street to avoid going near the 36 year old woman because of their fear that she was contagious.

Susan’s last years were spent in pain and fear. Radiation treatments and breast removal were her only paths of hope. She reached out to her fellow sufferers and died with the dream that no one would ever again suffer the way that she had. Her sister vowed to bring her dream to reality. Using her experience in marketing and the influence of her family’s wealth, she began to raise money for awareness and treatment of the disease that killed her sister and nearly took her own life.

In 1984, Nancy Brinker also detected a lump in her breast and demanded immediately that the doctors remove both her breasts. Following their removal, she was given chemotherapy and survived. The experience of watching her sister wither away and die had made her choice of aggressive treatment obvious. She then wrote a book detailing her experience and guiding other women to fight and to speak out.

1982 saw the death of Susan Komen and the birth of breast cancer awareness.

Here we are. It is 2011.

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Survivors ask if too much pink hurts cause (Abstract Only)

ABSTRACT ONLY

Title: Survivors ask if too much pink hurts cause

Author/Byline: Scripps Howard Newspapers

Publication: The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)

Publication Date: October 31, 2008

Gail Lemberger noticed a colorful trend while browsing through Sunday advertisements.

There were pink blenders, pink iPods, pink tools, pink vacuums. There were even pink coupons to purchase pink food items.

During October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – the pink-tinged campaigns turned out in force. But with so many companies now promoting the cause, there is a concern that pink fatigue is settling in.

“I definitely would say it is oversaturated as far as products that are pink,” said Ms. Lemberger, 49, a breast cancer survivor from Camarillo. “We definitely need to spread awareness, but I don’t really think there is a need for that much pink stuff.”

Like Ms. Lemberger, many patients and survivors have mixed emotions about pink campaigns. They want to promote awareness and raise money for the cause, but they worry about the potential for overkill and exploitation.

Because the pink ribbon associated with breast cancer awareness is not trademarked or copyrighted, any company can place it on a product, which means proceeds from the sale may or may not benefit breast cancer. It could be used just to promote awareness.

ABSTRACT ONLY

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Helping female athletes (Abstract Only)

ABSTRACT ONLY

Title: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Helping female athletes

Author: DIANE LUND-MUZIKANT

Publication: The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)

Publication Date: August 18, 2007

Komen’s sour note

I am deeply offended that the Komen Foundation has chosen Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, to hold its annual survivor celebration luncheon on Sept. 22. As a Jew and a breast cancer survivor, I’ve always felt honored to attend this luncheon which has given me inspiration in my battle against this deadly disease –particularly when the lights in the Oregon Convention Center are dimmed and I’ve held a lit candle representing life.

ABSTRACT ONLY