Beyond Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Chemical Pinkwashing Persists During October’s Ribbon Ruse

Source: By Christopher Zara

on October 22 2013 3:21 PM

You’re probably aware that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but here’s something you might not know. Breast Cancer Awareness Month was originally cooked up as a corporate marketing blitz by Imperial Chemical Industries, now part of the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN). The company, at the time, had an obvious interest in reaching the marketplace: It sold both carcinogenic pesticides as well as numerous cancer-treating drugs.

“It was the perfect profit cycle,” said Karuna Jaggar, executive director of the nonprofit Breast Cancer Action. “They sold chemicals that cause the disease and then the treatments for the disease.”

Jaggar, a longtime research and policy advocate, is among the most vocal critics of “pinkwashing,” a type of marketing spin in which companies use the guise of breast cancer awareness to make a profit. Pink vodkas, pink pizza boxes, pink M&Ms -- they’re mostly meant to play on our sympathies and, in turn, tug on our wallets. Even that ubiquitous pink ribbon is a corporate concoction, a collaboration between Self magazine and the cosmetics firm Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL), which coopted the idea from a breast cancer survivor in the early 1990s. Twenty years onward, there’s a reason the symbol is still in use all over the world: As a form of branding, it works.

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While companies may say they guarantee their products’ safety, Jaggar said they are not required to by law to do so -- and that’s part of the problem. The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates chemical safety, is significantly out of date. Reform legislation is being proposed, but she said it will be a toothless fix unless it shifts the burden of proof to chemical manufacturers. “We have to stop assuming that all chemicals are innocent until proven guilty and require industry to demonstrate chemical safety,” she said.

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“What do we have with all this awareness?” Jaggar said. “We have a lot of misconceptions. Do we need more awareness or do we need some real action?”

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/beyond-breast-cancer-awareness-month-chemical-pinkwashing-persists-during-octobers-ribbon-ruse