Breast Cancer Awareness Month : Part 2

Oct 26

This October there have been companies everywhere putting pink breast cancer awareness ribbons on their products. During this time, you even see limited edition releases that are pink to represent breast cancer awareness. However, many of these companies put a pink ribbon on the bottle of a product that still knowingly contains elements that have been directly linked to breast cancer. It is a sobering thought that for a cooperation something as deeply personal as breast cancer could be used as a marketing tactic to attract another demographic or appeal to the emotions of their buyers. Often times this marketing strategy is referred to as pinkwashing (soon we are going to discuss greenwashing which is entirely different) in which a company pairs with a for profit entity to delver a marketing campaign for a cause. This is not to say that every brand promoting breast cancer awareness month on their products is part of the problem, but those who use this ribbon without addressing the contributors in their products absolutely are.

For example, in 2003, Revlon partnered with the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) on a campaign that included pink ribbons on cosmetics containing long-chain parabens and DMDM hydantoin (a chemical that releases formaldehyde). These chemicals are known to increase the risk of some cancers. The company has since removed them from their products. In 2008, Yoplait was the national sponsor of Susan G. Komen's annual walk, but the pink-lidded yogurt was made from dairy containing the hormone rBGH, which is linked to breast cancer. And sadly it doesn’t end there, numerous other companies have been publicly called out for their hypocrisy during a breast cancer awareness campaign. What all of these companies have in common is that they were forward facing on a deeply personal charitable cause to increase their sales while directly misleading good intentioned consumers into purchasing products that contain harmful ingredients.

So does this mean we shouldn't support breast cancer awareness marketed products?

Absolutely not! According to the CDC breast cancer currently has the highest average treatment cost for any cancer diagnosis, and if there is a potential way to bring new research into the fold it should be supported. However, it is important to become an educated consumer so that you can choose to support entities that actually believe and support in ways that align with yours. Also, it does mean that much of the education on what are breast cancer research linked carcinogens ingredients falls on the shoulders of you as a consumer of these products. Overall, how and what you purchase and support is a personal decision but you should be informed on ingredients so that you don’t fall victim to marketing schemes. Below is a list of the most common parabens and phthalates found in products that you can start to look for in products.

Six of the commonly used phthalates in consumer products are di-(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), dioctyl phthalate (DnOP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP or BzBP).

Cosmetics typically contain mixtures of different types of parabens. The most used six types are methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, isopropyl-, butyl- and isobutyl paraben. The so-called shorter-chain parabens, methyl-, and ethyl-, are commonly used in combination, whereas butylparaben is often used alone. The longer-chain parabens, propyl- and butyl-, are linked to stronger estrogenic activity.

As we talked about in Part 1, 90-95% of breast cancer cases have been proven to be environmental and not genetic in origin. This gives the power to make choices that reduce the risk factors of an environmental diagnosis or prevent reoccurrence back to each individual. However, if we stop digging into the root causes and educating ourselves it is almost impossible to make purchasing decisions that lower the exposure to these risk factors.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month : Part 2

More than Chemo and Radiation : Comprehensive Cancer Treatments

Breast Cancer Awareness Month : Part 1