breast cancer: It’s time to move from demanding awareness to demanding answers

October marked the 24th year of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), which is sponsored by the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation along with numerous other organizations, medical associations and government agencies.
Breast cancer is the poster child for cause marketing: There is no other disease we try to eradicate by going shopping. Too often, however, the solution and the problem are commingled.
Who can resist pink M&M’s or Oreo cookies with little pink ribbons, for example? Never mind that junk food makes our bodies more vulnerable to disease. Estée Lauder donates money from the sale of its Elizabeth Pink lipstick; unfortunately it contains parabens, a chemical class that has long been linked to breast cancer.
Much of the information spewed out in October focused on personal risk factors that we can’t change, such as genetics and family history, even though only 5-10% of breast cancer is purportedly hereditary. Breast cancer patients deserve a national policy that emphasizes further research into the causes of breast cancer, and bases standards of treatment and diagnosis on the health of patients, not the bottom line of corporations. It is time to move beyond “awareness” to demanding answers.