Breast Cancer Action
Encyclopedia
Breast Cancer Action is a national grassroots
education and advocacy organization dedicated to supporting people living with breast cancer and creating system-wide change that will end the breast cancer epidemic. It was founded in 1990 by Elenore Pred, Susan Claymon, and Linda Reyes. Based in San Francisco, BCAction is known for understanding breast cancer not as an individual crisis, but a public health emergency. BCAction is also known for its Think Before You Pink campaign, launched in 2002, which encourages consumers to ask critical questions before buying pink ribbon products.
BCAction criticizes National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
as Breast Cancer Industry Month, because some corporate sponsors benefit financially from increased screening for breast cancer, or produce carcinogenic chemicals.
, became frustrated with the lack of information and hard data about the causes and treatments of her condition. Along with other women also suffering from metastatic breast cancer, she founded Breast Cancer Action to be an organization of breast cancer survivors and their supporters.
Since Pred's death in October 1991, BCAction has continued as an advocacy group
dedicated to breast cancer activism
at local, state and federal levels. The organization sees breast cancer not as an individual issue but a "national public health
emergency." Their work has included an emphasis on more effective and less toxic breast cancer treatments that keep the needs of the public interest first; decreasing involuntary environmental exposures that put people at increased risk for breast cancer; and creating awareness that not only genes but also social injustices like political, economic, and racial inequities can lead to imbalances in outcomes of the disease.
It also provides information and "organizes people to do something besides worry".
It supports structural changes to society as a means of stopping breast cancer.
2008
2007
2006
2005
For The Record
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
education and advocacy organization dedicated to supporting people living with breast cancer and creating system-wide change that will end the breast cancer epidemic. It was founded in 1990 by Elenore Pred, Susan Claymon, and Linda Reyes. Based in San Francisco, BCAction is known for understanding breast cancer not as an individual crisis, but a public health emergency. BCAction is also known for its Think Before You Pink campaign, launched in 2002, which encourages consumers to ask critical questions before buying pink ribbon products.
BCAction criticizes National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure...
as Breast Cancer Industry Month, because some corporate sponsors benefit financially from increased screening for breast cancer, or produce carcinogenic chemicals.
History
Breast Cancer Action began in 1990 when Elenore Pred, who had metastatic breast cancerBreast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
, became frustrated with the lack of information and hard data about the causes and treatments of her condition. Along with other women also suffering from metastatic breast cancer, she founded Breast Cancer Action to be an organization of breast cancer survivors and their supporters.
Since Pred's death in October 1991, BCAction has continued as an advocacy group
Advocacy group
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...
dedicated to breast cancer activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
at local, state and federal levels. The organization sees breast cancer not as an individual issue but a "national public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
emergency." Their work has included an emphasis on more effective and less toxic breast cancer treatments that keep the needs of the public interest first; decreasing involuntary environmental exposures that put people at increased risk for breast cancer; and creating awareness that not only genes but also social injustices like political, economic, and racial inequities can lead to imbalances in outcomes of the disease.
Activities
BCAction advocates for policy changes in three priority areas:- Treatment improvements, by shifting the balance of power at the FDA away from the pharmaceutical industry and towards the public interest while advocating for more effective and less toxic treatments.
- Environmental integrity, by decreasing involuntary environmental exposures that put people at risk for breast cancer.
- Inequities by creating awareness that it is not just genes, but social injustices - political, economic, and racial inequities - that lead to disparities in breast cancer outcomes.
It also provides information and "organizes people to do something besides worry".
It supports structural changes to society as a means of stopping breast cancer.
Achievements
2009- General Mills announced that it would remove the cancer-linked synthetic growth hormone, rBGH, from Yoplait Yogurt
- Dannon followed suit, announcing they will be rBGH-free by 2010. Together General Mills and Dannon represent two-thirds of the U.S. dairy market
- Congress funds Comparative Effectiveness Research effort as part of the federal economic stimulus
- BCAction's victorious 2008 Think Before You Pink campaign, "Yoplait: Put a Lid on it" won the first place 2009 BENNY Award from the Business Ethics Network. The annual BENNY Awards recognize outstanding corporate campaign victories.
2008
- Activated 1500 people to take action against pinkwashing just two weeks into its Think Before You PinkThink Before You PinkThink Before You Pink is the 58th cartoon produced in the The Pink Panther series. A total of 124 6-minute cartoons were produced between 1964 and 1978.-Plot:...
campaign - Met with Genentech (Avastin) and Amgen (anemia drugs) representatives to air concerns about their products
- Successfully advocated for removal of phthalates in cosmetics made by Secret, Arrid and Christian Dior
- Think Before You Pink Critical Questions appear in promotional literature and media statements from Komen and the American Cancer Society
2007
- Initiated First National Breast Cancer Research Summit, a gathering of funders, scientists, and key activists from around the nation
- Think Before You Pink web site was Yahoo! pick of the month for October
- Based on cost and lack of effectiveness, opposed approval of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer
- Successfully argued for cancellation of STELLAR Trial, maintaining that pills for prevention always results in disease substitution
- Published initial Aromatase Inhibitor Side-effects Survey results
2006
- Founding member of CHANGE, a coalition of organizations working to create a better system for regulating toxic chemicals in California
- Fenton Communications featured BCAction's Think Before You Pink campaign as a case study in its presentation, “Because It’s Worth It: 10 Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Communications”
- BAWG, co-founded by BCAction, wins "Pioneers of Precaution" award at the First National Conference on the Precautionary Principle in Baltimore, MD
2005
- BCAction’s California Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005 (SB 484) enacted
- BCAction's Think Before You Pink campaign inspired Komen and Breast Cancer Research Foundation to post their own questions consumers should ask before buying pink ribbon products
- Successfully advanced dialogue among stakeholders concerning the California Biomonitoring Program (SB 1379), monitoring presence and concentration of chemicals in California
For The Record
- 2002 - Research confirms BCAction's long-standing concerns about hormone therapy and breast cancer risk
- 1998 - BCAction opposes use of tamoxifen for reduction of risk of breast cancer in healthy women
- 1998 - BCAction successfully calls for release of data showing high dose chemotherapy/bone marrow transplant does not work for breast cancer patients