Breast cancer crusade turns contentious

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

a cancer crusade turns contentious

by marie mccullough, inquirer staff writer, 09/30/2004 03:01 am edt

in the coming days, philadelphia's love park fountain and the center city skyline will turn pink. new york's times square will display a 70-foot-tall ribbon made of pink post-it notes...

... but behind the festive fund-raising events and confident rhetoric that mark october as breast cancer awareness month, the fight against breast cancer is increasingly contentious and splintered. with at least 1,000 registered nonprofit breast-cancer organizations in the united states, there is competition - even occasional legal battles - for trademarks, sponsors, alliances, and the clout to shape political and research agendas. some groups feel the breast-cancer movement has become too popular - a cuddly, commercialized, cash-laden crusade that is nowhere close to solving the mysteries of the deadly disease...

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/9794494.htm

[mattsmom81]

Its sad but this is another example of how our society is getting overfocused on pet issues and taking things overboard. Is obsession the rule rather than the exception today with people's pet causes? Or is it that the radicals are getting the press coverage?

[wam79]

It's sad that things get like that here. If there is enough money to support all the organizations , the administratin , ads, lawyers. I would wish that the money could be used to support other areas of health that are underserved.

[Dplear]

As many men will die from Prostate cancer as will women from breast cancer yet it only gets 1/10 the funding and only 1/32 the publicity that breast cancer gets.

I can see where there are battles for trademarks and imiages for breast cancer when you are dealing with the kind of money that it generates.

Dave

[wam79]

As many men will die from Prostate cancer as will women from breast cancer yet it only gets 1/10 the funding and only 1/32 the publicity that breast cancer gets.

I can see where there are battles for trademarks and imiages for breast cancer when you are dealing with the kind of money that it generates.

Dave

I'm not sure why males don't have as much support. We have begun to talk to and educate male patients about prostate and testicular cancers. So many will tell me they never thought about it. No education about checking themseves or symptoms to be aware of. It must be the way males are percieved to be reluctant to talk of illness. I'm glad I have made this a part of my routine care ,but I don't know why I didn't think to do it sooner