Breast Cancer and Corporations

I am currently watching a Canadian documentary on breast cancer called Pink Ribbons, Inc.  It is making me fairly angry considering I recognize most of the "good works" by corporations as public relations stunts to earn money.  Yep. Sounds like a corporation. Get the name of the company out there in the public, slap something like 10 percent of every purchase on the label and people will buy it because lots of us have known someone struggling with chemo because they have been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

On the flip side, insult women who have died from breast cancer because they no longer have a voice by referring to other sufferers as "survivors" as though the struggle of those who died was worth nothing, or they didn't try hard enough.

One myth is that if you catch breast cancer early enough you will survive.
False.  Sometimes it just doesn't matter. That is life. 

If you or anyone you know has had breast cancer or has bought anything pink because the company donates a portion of the proceeds to a cancer charity, I recommend tracking this down via Netflix or other media.

What exactly are these charities researching?  Has any of them published any valid results?

Why does the FDA not require testing on many of the products we use in day to day life?  Deodorants, colognes, shampoos, makeup, ect...none of those things are subject to safety tests and yet there are so many chemicals in any one of those products that we use daily, that most of us have no idea what we are slathering on our skins and therefore into our bloodstreams.

Not to mention the food we eat.

If you want to support someone with breast cancer I suggest you do so on an individual level.

Make dinner.
Pay a bill.
Offer mental support.
Clean their house.

Be creative.

I know when Jon and I heard Sharon M. was undergoing chemo, there wasn't much we could afford to do to help her out. But we did take her flowers and, in general, let her know we were thinking of her. We went to the Detroit Zoo with her and her family. She had a blast.

I consider that something small. But who knows how much she appreciated it. Sharon knows. And that's what matters.