If You Want to Fight Cancer, Turn Those Pink Ribbons Green

Written by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, Common Dreams

I’m going to make a confession. I never could stand those pink ribbons. I’ve never done a “Walk for the Cure” or bought daffodils for cancer victims or even picked a cancer-cure-themed postage stamp.

I’m glad to hear that the Komen Foundation has bowed to pressure and is restoring funding to Planned Parenthood, a worthwhile organization if there ever was one.

But in general, the idea of putting the energy and effort of well-meaning citizens behind “the search for a cure for cancer” just irritates me, because let’s face it, we know what causes cancer, and therefore we can do better than cure it, we can prevent it! Maybe not 100%, but we can take it back to the modest rates that previous generations of human beings enjoyed.

For my grandparents’ generation, a diagnosis of cancer was frightening because it was so often a death sentence, but it was rare. Not one of my four grandparents came down with cancer, and I don’t believe their parents did either. This isn’t due to some genetic serendipity, it’s just a fact that cancer rates in the first half of the 20th century (and every century before that) were way lower than they are now.

Cancer rates are skyrocketing now thanks to the environmental toxins that humans have introduced into our air, soil and water, and thus our agricultural crops, drinking water and the very air we breathe. Rachel Carson saw the effects of DDT on birds, and gave the warning just before she succumbed to cancer.

We may have removed DDT from the US market, but it’s still being used in other countries, and here it has been replaced by a whole host of alphabet-soup chemicals, each one more potent and carcinogenic than the last.

If you really want to make a difference in the war against cancer, forget about those ridiculous pink ribbons. Use the power of your wallet and your ballot to insist that the government step up and do its job in regulating the industrial agriculture sector.

Or better yet, let’s allow the specter of industrial agriculture to fade away into the dustbin of the 20th century, and start a real “green revolution,” dedicated to the health and well-being of our planet and all her denizens.

What color is your ribbon? Mine is green.

This post was originally published by Common Dreams.

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Read more: air pollution, cancer, carcinogens, common dreams, komen

Photo from xcode via flickr

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ernest R.

10:18AM PST on Feb 12, 2012

Char I.. “But if we dream of a greener future, the first priority has to be population control.” I agree that overpopulation is the major problem from which all disasters flow, from chemical contamination to forest depletion to destructive agriculture to fuel shortages to resource depletion to coal burning plants to nuclear disasters.. Running for cancer, bicycling for cancer, eating for cancer has had zero results apart from enriching pharmaceutical companies. But we learn that Japan has a much lower breast cancer rate than the US, but Japanese who immigrate to the continental US and Hawaii, experience the same cancer rate as Americans. What are the results from the focused study to determine what causes the increased rate in the US ? There are none. There is no such study, just the pink ribbons.

send a green star

Debbie F.

6:11PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

totally agree with the article. Americans are being sold a fairy tale that everyone will get cancer due to old age and better detection. No way! Cancer is not natural! We are poisoning ourselves. Rachel Carson was right! We did it to ourselves and now we must not spend decades and fortunes just frantically searching for cures while our loved ones suffer and die. We must put an end to this assault on nature and our own health. We have to do it our selves because the government is controlled by corporate lobbyists and the media is also controlled by corporations. We must demand BPA free products and clean up the toxins in our environment

Pamela H.

5:59PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

I totally agree with this article. Also something Big Pharma doesn't tell is is that vitamin D, which most of us lack, can prevent 8 out of 10 types of cancer. Check out How the Cancer Industry Controls Women: http://counterthink.com/Cancer_Industry_Controls_Women.asp
Not to mention the cruel tests they do on animals in labs which have no relation to human reactions whatsoever. My money will not be going to that.

5:11PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

I totally agree with the article. Americans are being sold a fairy tale that everyone will get cancer due to old age and better detection. No way! Cancer is not natural! We are poisoning ourselves. Rachel Carson was right! We did it to ourselves and now we must not spend decades and fortunes just frantically searching for cures while our loved ones suffer and die. We must put an end to this assault on nature and our own health. We have to do it our selves because the government is controlled by corporate lobbyists and the media is also controlled by corporations. We must demand BPA free products and clean up the toxins in our environment.

Katie K.

11:19AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

I truly believe all the monies from all these years and from multiple causes isn't going to were "they" say it is and it's very frustrating. Could it be they have found cures but don't implement them because "they" would loose their funding. How could so much money, time and research by the brightest still show a blank slate? Gives you pause.

Robert P.

9:52AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Great comment by Valerie B. I have believed for years that cannibus was outlawed because it cut into drug company profits. It is helpful to many different health issues. They try to tell us that it is the gateway drug. That is crazy. Most people who went on tohard drugs previously ate food. I guess with that logic food would be the gateway item. Lets outlaw food. The drug companies are so rich and powerful they influence everything and everybody. They lie by altering research and by ommission. They kill more people with legal drugs than illegal drugs do. Cancer cures have been around for years like Dr. Max Gerson but you will not hear about them from mainstream because they would lose money. Books on Dr. max can be found at bookstores. Cancer research organizations can not be trusted. It is all about the money. The head of Komen reportedly makes over makes over 400,000 dollars a year. is that where the money should go.

Valerie B.

7:33AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Oh yes lol and ofcourse prevention is the KEY! The only thing is its getting harder and harder to prevent thanks to companies like Monsanto. Even when you are purchasing fresh prosuce there are still no labels for genetically modified foods. Whenever you can buy local and support your local farms! Even better if possible, start your own garden. Best of luck to everyone trying to eat healthier and live a better life. :-)

7:26AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

I urge you to look into this with an OPEN mind. Seriously, RESEARCH it and you will be blown away. My ribbon is GREEN. Green for cannabis. Cannabis (marijuana) was prohibited when man made drugs were making their debut. As we all know, these "miracle" drugs as they were called, have become a staple in our modern lifestyles and have caused endless side effects, often times deadly, and massive amounts of money for the pharmaceutical companies. Cannabis is PROVEN to cure cancer! That's right, I know you're already skeptical, because you've been forcefed "facts" that cannabis is a dangerous scary DRUG simply to get people high. This is not true. Do you want to know why its not all over the mass media? (Though if you look hard enough you can find tiny articles or broadcasts acknowledging this information). Its because if people knew they could cure cancer, there would be countless dollars in profits lost. It is better for you to simply "fight" cancer, by spending tons of money on drugs and procedures that sometimes leave you sicker than when you started treatment. I know its a sad and infuriating thing to face, but you and your children are worth more money sick than healthy. Please, look into this, open your mind as a legitimate researcher, and free yourself from the dangerous information that has been ingrained in your mind from the time you were a child. I only wish to help.

John M.

6:04AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Thank you for the article...