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I can already feel it, the encroachment of October, breast cancer awareness industry month. It’s been ten years since since a doctor diagnosed me with invasive breast cancer and told me I was simply one of the eight women who will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, ten years  since I started paying attention to the epidemic that will kill about 43,600 women in the United States this year, ten years since I learned that men get breast cancer too – in fact, about 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2021. This year, we anticipate 281,550  new diagnoses of invasive breast cancer like mine in women in the United States and 49,290 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.

It’s been a decade since I began paying attention to these numbers, reminding me again this October of the premise of Sir Austin Bradford Hill, pioneer of the randomized clinical trial:

 Health statistics represent people with the tears wiped off.

Ten years later, I have lost so many friends – beautiful, brainy, badass women – every one of them an advocate who persisted in challenging the breast cancer industry and changing the status quo even as they were in the ravages of Stage IV cancer. I’m tired of them dying. I’m tired of wondering if today is the day that a twinge in my hip or a slight headache might mean that it has spread to my bones or my brain. I’m tired of being called a survivor or brave because as the late John Diamond reminded us, cowards get cancer too. And, I am a coward. That I know. I’m also lucky.

I remember in those early weeks following my diagnosis, when people – friends – mused that perhaps I had somehow brought it on myself because of my lifestyle, or because I worked in jobs were too stressful. Maybe it was that I didn’t work out enough or eat enough organic vegetables or not drink enough red wine or drink too much red wine or maybe it was because I was a smoker once upon a time. I was told more than once that I was lucky and I should be counting my blessings since I got the “good” cancer, that my cancer could be so much worse, as bad as the cancer visited upon someone’s mother/father/uncle/cousin twice removed. I was told I didn’t look sick so it couldn’t be that bad, and, after all, I still had my hair – or was it a wig? I was told to find the silver lining and consider my cancer a gift.  

I was told to lighten up, put my big girl panties on, and  fight like a girl – be a “pink warrior.” I was lambasted because I had declined chemotherapy – “That’s so selfish. Aren’t you thinking about your daughter?” – and I was told I was stupid because I should have had the other breast removed too – along with my ovaries. Apparently, at 49, I didn’t need them anymore. I was told that I was REALLY lucky to get a free boob job and that I have been way too sensitive about October and the pink ribbons and all the racing towards a cure.  I was told – for years –  that early detection was the best protection, so obediently, I went for my mammograms – four of ’em – each of which missed the damn cancer that had been growing, concealed, within the dense tissue of my right breast. And for years,  I was told by the Susan G. Komen foundation that awareness saves breasts and lives – if only I’d lighten up and feel the boobies and participate in a cute Facebook campaign during October. #ThinkPink

But – and here’s what’s important – I was also told how much I am loved and that I matter and that pink ribbons and empty awareness campaigns aren’t enough.  To those people who love me and who stayed in my corner through all the scans and surgeries, the blood tests and biopsies, the treatments and their side effects, and the interminable waiting in so many waiting rooms,  thank you. And, thank you  to the people like my daughter who will stop to ask the cashier at the grocery store if she knows where those donations go, because she started paying attention ten years ago too –  to the business of breast cancer.

A decade ago, we discovered Breast Cancer Action, the watchdog for the breast cancer movement. We learned about Think Before you Pink a campaign that had been launched by Breast Cancer Action in 2002, to highlight critical questions that consumers should ask about pink ribbon products – those same questions my daughter would one day ask grocery store clerks:

Free from any conflict of interest and wholly committed to transparency, Breast Cancer Action, takes no money from ANY company that profits from or contributes to cancer – and they always show us where our money goes.  Accordingly, in 2003, they coined the phrase “pinkwashing,” to expose those companies that use the color pink in October to generate goodwill while at the same time making a paltry financial contribution to the actual cause of breast-cancer research and awareness. In other words, they profit from my disease.

I was unaware of all of this, of course, until it happened to me. And, in 2011, when it happened to me,  their Think Before You Pink® campaign was focused on Promise Me, a perfume commissioned by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a fragrance that contained chemicals not listed in the ingredients that were regulated as toxic and hazardous; had not been adequately evaluated for human safety; and, which had demonstrated negative health effects. They decided to raise a stink about it, and I did too, and, together, we’ll do the same every October when Breast Cancer Action identifies those corporations that continue to profit from breast cancer as The Daily Beast’s Erin Gloria Ryan reported:

Companies like Estee Lauder, which markets breast-cancer awareness-branded products that contain chemicals like parabens, which may cause cancer or interfere with cancer treatment; citrus growers, who, while marketing pink breast-cancer-awareness products, irrigated their fruit with oil company wastewater; a fracking company—fracking has been linked to cancer-causing carcinogens—that marketed a breast-cancer awareness fracking drill-bit (really. This really happened);and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s pink breast- cancer awareness fried chicken bucket (see the research on a high-fat diet and increased cancer risk here).

And while Breast Cancer’s Actions have certainly made a dent with these annual campaigns to “think before you pink,” they need our help to continue to apply pressure.

On October 1st, the 2021 campaign will be officially announced –  and you can follow Breast Cancer on Instagram for a live announcement on Sept. 30 12pm Pacific. 

Along with the upcoming annual campaign,  BCA’s has several ongoing actions one of which asks legislators to support the bi-partisan No PFAS in Cosmetics Act [S.2047] thereby shifting responsibility from consumers to the cosmetics industry to stop the use of intentionally added PFAS in makeup and personal care products.

PFAs in cosmetics – Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large and ever-growing class of fluorinated human-made chemicals used to repel oil and water, “forever chemicals,” because they never break down in the environment. Research suggests that PFAS may increase the risk of breast cancer by changing the structure of the mammary gland, interfering with normal hormone functioning, and suppressing the immune system, which can hinder the body’s ability to prevent rogue cells from growing into breast cancer. In spite of this evidence, PFAS are widely used in non-stick cookware, clothing, furniture, and many other products—including cosmetics, particularly  prevalent in mascara, lip gloss, and foundation. And, typically, PFAS are not listed on ingredient labels. Users – like me – may absorb PFAS through their skin or, in the case of lip products, eat them. When cosmetics products are washed down the drain or thrown away, the chemicals can contaminate our soil water supplies.

Current inadequate laws and regulations allow the cosmetic industry to use PFAS and other unsafe ingredients while burdening consumers with the responsibility of avoiding harmful chemicals. The No PFAS in Cosmetics Act, a bipartisan bill, would change that by prohibiting the intentional addition of PFAS in cosmetic products.

What can we do?
Join Breast Cancer Action in asking our legislators to support the No PFAS in Cosmetics Act, a bipartisan bill, that would prohibit the intentional addition of PFAS in cosmetic products.  Click here  to contact your legislators.