The Color of a Cure is Green

It’s October, the time of year that the whole world seems to be bathed in a thick coating of pepto bismol pink.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for those women in the early 90’s, who originated the pink ribbon, to bring breast cancer action and awareness into the public eye, raising the money that funded the research that promoted the early detection systems and developed the treatments that mean that I get to be alive today to write this blog.  The pink ribbon campaign provided vital visibility in a day when you didn’t say things like "cancer" or "breast" out loud.

But that was then, and this is now.  Women are more aware, but they are still dying.  We haven’t kicked all of the many diseases that we call breast cancer, and the color pink isn’t going to fix that.  We need a lot more green now.

It’s seems to be table stakes these days that companies must wave a pink banner or ‘pinkify’ an appliance every October, to prove their solidarity with the cause. There is a pink breast cancer banner hanging up in the lobby of my office building.  That’s nice, but what I want to know is, does the management company contribute actual dollars to breast cancer research? Each October when I pick up my Tamoxifen at Walgreen’s, it comes with a pink cap.  Really?  I am taking an anti-estrogen drug formulated to fight breast cancer recurrence.  Believe me, I am aware, and I would be much happier if Walgreen’s took the money they spend creating those pink caps and donated it to Stand Up to Cancer, or the Army of Women.  To fund actual research that will eradicate breast cancer so that no one else has to die.

Here’s the thing.  Social goodwill is great, but it doesn’t cure cancer.  What will is money, put in the hands of researchers who dedicate their lives’ work to finding a cure. So if a pink coffee maker is really the perfect accompaniment to your kitchen décor, by all means, buy it.  But if you have some actual green to spend, find a worthwhile organization, perhaps the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and donate.  And let me be the first to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.