Canadian Documentary 'Pink Ribbons Inc.' Rips Into Komen's Big Business Charity
Breaking News in the midst of the Komen | Planned Parenthood conflict that has energized American women as no other event in decades. We repost this article from CTZ British Columbia:
A new documentary from a breast cancer survivor raises questions about the “pinkwashing” she believes brands are using to sell products that are actually carcinogenic.
Dr. Samantha King’s investigation into the growing corporate involvement in breast cancer fundraisers is the basis for Léa Pool’s new documentary, “Pink Ribbons Inc.,” opening in select theatres Friday.
The documentary suggests brands use the pink ribbon to create a feel-good sense for their product –-a tactic she calls ‘pinkwashing’.
“That’s when corporations … sell products that might be linked to breast cancer,” King explained. “So cosmetics with toxic ingredients, for example, also make money by doing pink ribbon marketing”.
She said many of the products are not even related to breast cancer.
“One of my favourite examples is a breast cancer handgun that went on sale in the U.S. last year. We’ve seen Kentucky Fried Chicken, snowshoes — the list is really endless” she said.
The trailer for the documentary shares a few stories from women with breast cancer who claim only a small percentage of money raised for fundraisers goes towards research.
“It’s almost like our disease is being used for people to profit and that’s not OK,” said one woman featured in the film.
University of B.C. researcher Carolyn Gotay said she values the questions the documentary raises but argues the push to find a cure has not overshadowed prevention research.
“I think we’re on a good upward trajectory but we’re still not near the finish line,” she said.
Gotay added that some of the film’s arguments have not been scientifically proven.
“Some of the carcinogens identified in the film haven’t really been shown necessarily to be deleterious to the levels they’re being used,” Gotay said.
Representative for Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation B.C./ Yukon. Judy Caldwell also said the documentary uses decade-old campaigns.
“If it’s a product we don’t believe in, if the amount to be donated is highly inappropriately small, then we would refuse it,” Caldwell said
She added that Run for the Cure, the foundation’s signature event, is monumental in raising awareness about breast cancer and providing to prevention research.
“Pink Ribbons Inc.” opens Friday at Denman Cinemas and The Rio in Vancouver, Roxy Theatres in Victoria, Avalon Cinema Centre in Nanaimo and the Paramount Theatre in Kelowna.
Now that Komen has reversed itself on defunding Planned Parenthood, the question NPR asks: Can Komen Recover From Controversy?
Anne of Carversville has withdrawn ANY support for pink ribbons associated with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. We will not BUY any brand or product associated with the Komen Foundation, and we will list all brands and companies who supported Komen in their 2011 campaign.
I will be contacting those companies personally to voice my strong disapproval of Komen’s decision to align with social conservatives against the fight for breast cancer among poor women. Komen’s decision to reinstate Planned Parenthood does not impact our policy.
Until Komen fires its board members and SVP of Public Policy Karen Hanley AND gives more than the current 20-28% of its donations to cancer research, Komen is ‘black’ not pink at AOC.
Share Article Fri, February 3, 2012 in Philanthropy, Sexual Politics tagged Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Koman foundation, breast cancer, women's health 
Michelle Obama Out Push-Ups Ellen DeGeneres As Million Moms Denouces JC Penney for Hiring Popular Talk Show Host
Daily French Roast
Anne is reading …
Michelle Obama’s Push Ups
“And I thought it wouldn’t be good to show up the first lady,” retorted Degeneres. “So, I stopped because I thought this looks bad that I’m going to beat her. And I’m 54 and you’re 48. Let’s make sure we know.” via ABC
You’re talking to somebody who directed traffic in the middle of Sixth Avenue, when New York went dark in “Son of Sam” summer.
Decending 62 floors of late-night darkness with only a candle, I had a terrified, weeping Spanish cleaning woman in tow. “It’s all right,” I kept telling her. “You can lean on me. Come on, you can do it. You’ll be fine.” Anne
More DFR
MSNBC reports that McDonald’s has eliminated the use of ammonium hydroxide in its hamburger meat. Denying that the decision had anothing to do with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get amonium-treated chicken and beef out of the US food supply, the company agrees that an ingredient used in fertilizers, household cleaners and some ‘roll-your-own- explosives doesn’t belong in its Big Macs.
Ah yes, Timothy McVeigh used 1625 kilograms of ammonium hydroxide to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The US Agriculture Department classifies ammonium hydroxide as ‘generally recognized as safe.’
British chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign began in April when he called for the elimination of ‘pink slime’ on his TV show, ‘Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
The use of treated scrap meat “to me as a chef and a food lover is shocking,” Oliver said. “… Basically we’re taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest form for dogs and making it ‘fit’ for humans.” Note that McDonald’s calls the pink slime ‘Select lean beef trimmings’.
Jamie Oliver | 70% of America’s Beef Is Treated with Ammonia
Exercise as Housecleaning for the Body via New York Times
When ticking off the benefits of physical activity, few of us would include intracellular housecleaning. But a new study suggests that the ability of exercise to speed the removal of garbage from inside our body’s cells may be one of its most valuable, if least visible, effects.
AOC Culture Wars
First a Planned Parenthood update. The backlash against Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been severe, probably because the transparency of the timing of their action is so obvious to thinking people. When you hire a woman named Karen Handel, who is an avowed opponent of Planned Parenthood as your Senior Vice President for Public Policy in April 2011, and then amend your bylaws prohibiting funding any organization under investigation, after a Republican has launched one of Planned Parenthood in Congress, the general public really isn’t that stupid as to your intentions.
Many Republican moderate and even prolife women are astonished that Komen would hijack breast exams for poor women without a backup plan, which they do not have.
“Komen has placed its supporters in the untenable position of aligning themselves with acquiescence to the agenda of the religious right, or aligning themselves with health care and breast cancer organizations that will not bow to such pressures,” said Calif state Sen. Alex Padilla said, formerly one of Komen’s ‘Pink Tie Guys’.
“The choice is clear to me. I choose the latter.”
Anne of Carversville also supports Planned Parenthood, and Anne has signed the petition condemning Komen’s decision. In its 7th new goal, the petition has garnered 61,543 signatures in a little over 24 hours.