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The World Health Organization (WHO) declared October 19 to be the World Day of the Fight Against Breast Cancer, a date marked by rising awareness, prevention, detection and treatment of the disease that mostly affects women. The organization aims for a non-political or commercial celebration, but even this neutral approach has been criticized by organizations that claim the model fails to address the responsibility of large drug and food companies that are involved in the increasing cases of cancer around the world.
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The media campaign in the U.S. lasts all of October, with NFL players and Hollywood personalities publicly endorsing the wearing of pink. The events have gone a similar way to other rising awareness activities and political parades, with transnational companies profiting from the commodification of people’s good will and a real public health issue.
AstroZeneca, for example, is accused by health activists and organizations, of commercializing cancer-treatment drugs at the same time they produce GMOs and weed-killers suspected of producing cancer, such as the Atrazine, through Syngenta.
That move has been labeled as “pinkwashing” by Breast Cancer Action (BCA), an alternative to the more mainstream organizations such as Susan G. Komen. BCA argue that these organizations promote advertisement campaigns that make the companies look as if they care while ignoring their own responsibility on the matter.
BCA also renamed the NBCAM in the U.S. as the National Breast Cancer Industry Month, in reference to the massive commodification of a public health issue that diverts attention from real causes, and researches methods to educate the general public on the negligence of corporations regarding health responsibilities.
Health, drug companies and clinics have been accused of profiting on the month-long campaign by advertising expensive mammograms and treatments, under the ‘raising awareness’ flag, but little is done to promote research and accessible care for those in need.
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The BCA has called-out the Ford Motor Company for pinkwashing its own actions through its ‘Warriors in Pink’ campaign. The automobile manufacturer will stop selling every model but big-size SUVs and trucks, which means there will be more benzene, 1,3-butadiene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment, increasing the risk of breast cancer.
“Warriors in Pink tells women that they have to fight hard against breast cancer. But it doesn’t matter how hard women ‘fight’ if the air they breathe is more toxic because of Ford’s hypocrisy,” says BCA’s petition.
The problem with organizations such as Komen is that they’re tied to large funding companies and cannot address the real causes of breast cancer because of money-conditioning. Susan G. Komen knows that PAHs are related with breast cancer, yet she doesn’t demand Ford take on responsibility of that because their funds would be cut.
The same BCA also organizes an annual “Action Speaks Louder Than Pink” fundraising dinner during the same month, and people elsewhere are doing their thing from their own trenches.
Just like the BCA, there is the American Cancer Society, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Unite for Her in the U.S., not mentioning local feminists and female organizations doing community work. The real change is taking place thanks to activists and grassroots' organizations using Grassroots self-exploration, prevention, awareness, and education - free of "pinkwashing."
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