Breast Cancer Business

Breast cancer awareness has been a topic of interest that has attracted several companies and institutions to join the pink ribbon merchandise. The goal of the awareness campaign is aimed at educating women on the risks of breast cancer and the importance of early screening. Breast cancer awareness campaigns raise an average of 6 million USD annually, yet breast cancer still remains to be a top killer for women living in the United States with one in eight women developing breast cancer during her lifetime (Rosa, 2014). The reality is a hard pill to swallow: we are no closer to finding a cure for breast cancer than we were over two decades ago; in 1991, roughly 110 women died every day from breast cancer. That figure only dropped down to 110 women by 2011 (Goldman, 2011). 

Why is there such a discrepancy between breast cancer awareness and actually finding a cure? 

The bottom line is that breast cancer is a business that allows for people to get very wealthy (or accidentally allow for the misuse of money). This is widely due to the fact that breast cancer screening is seen as a personal responsibility. We don’t need more awareness, but we do need to be smarter about where we donate. 

There are several missteps that naturally occur in awareness campaigns. The first is that awareness focuses on personal responsibility. Instead of focusing on physician’s role in detection, breast cancer awareness targets the general public and places the responsibility of early detection of breast cancer on the individual; therefore, if you have advanced stages of breast cancer, which is often the case for ethnic minority groups, it was individual’s fault for not checking sooner. Of course, those living with a late stage of breast cancer are completely ostracized from this awareness campaign due to the focus on ‘early detection.’ The National Breast Cancer Foundation is saturated with hope, survival stories, and warrior narratives which, of course, is excited and sometimes necessary, but sadly only focuses on a single (survival) story. 

In addition, the breast cancer awareness campaign only goes as far to stress the importance of screening to the individual without considering the barriers to accessing screening. It is safe to assume that most people know someone who has experienced breast cancer (due to the high prevalence of breast cancer in the United States) and do not need to become “more aware” that at some point, they will need to get checked for cancer. 

But how does one actually go about getting a mammogram? Where is the best place to get one? How much does it cost? If it is passed down genetically, do I need to get checked sooner? This non-exhaustive list of questions has generally not been answered by the production of pink ribbons on shirts and pink water bottles from Dick’s Sporting Goods. If screening results, which can be expensive depending on insurance coverage, detect cancerous tissue, management, surgery, reconstruction, and/or medication can be incredibly expensive. 

But wait, doesn’t the money go to breast cancer research and the care of local women who have breast cancer?

Yes and no. Lea Goldman published an article in Marie Claire arguing why breast cancer was such a large business in the United States. A large part of the problem, now that companies have invested in the pink ribbon breast cancer awareness campaign, is that breast cancer awareness as a product makes people very wealthy. The Plainview Chapter of the Coalition Against Breast Cancer (CABC), for example, was supposed to be a foundation that helped local breast cancer patients pay off their medical expenses. The group raised over 1 million USD and yet, after viewing the public tax returns, investigators found that the CABC had donated absolutely nothing. 

Some charities are not so intentional in their lack of donations. Because many local and well-meaning breast cancer awareness campaigns are started by just a few, inexperienced people (often family and friends), donor dollars go towards printing brochures or awareness events rather than their designated research facilities. The American Breast Cancer Foundation in 1998 was founded by Phyllis Wolf and her son, Joseph. The two saw the discrepancy between awareness and more hands-on action and decided to financially assist breast cancer patients who did not have insurance. Though a noble goal, Joseph ended up setting out on his own in the telemarketing world (still aimed at breast cancer awareness) and pocketed 40 cents to every dollar he made in donations. He retired early after making around 18 billion USD (Goldman, 2011). 

Marie Claire: Pink Purchases

Simply because a brochure, piece of clothing, or packaging has a pink ribbon “doesn’t always mean that a good breast cancer charity is benefiting from your purchase,” Better Business Bureau executive Michelle Corey noted. According to Goldman, one of the first searches on google for pink ribbon is a site owned by Walter Scheffrahn who, at the time of publication, had not yet donated the 20,000 USD his cite had attracted from people nor had he figured out to which organization it should be given. 

With so many companies and organizations across the world supposedly bringing in money to support breast cancer awareness of persons with breast cancer, the effort becomes diffused. The president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Fran Visco described the effort as, “putting them (money) into little pots all across the country…taking away from the efforts that can and do make a difference.” Instead, Visco says they should be focused in putting themselves out of business. But, as Goldman comments, why close up shop when business is booming? 

If you are considering donating to breast cancer research, I strongly encourage you to dig deep into the company/organization/product before putting money down. Check out Goldman’s article here to find a list of credible foundations aimed at funding research and treatment. If you have questions about mammograms, check out the CDCs website, which provides helpful links and definitions as well as answers to common questions.