This morning I went into my closet to find something to wear. It’s Friday, so I grabbed my favorite pair of jeans and because I’m a creature of habit, I also reached for the blouse I normally wear with them. It just so happens that the blouse is pink. For me, it’s a little out of the ordinary because most of my clothes are earth tone colors. In fact, a quick survey tells me that this is the only piece of clothing in my closet that is pink. As I began to get dressed, I remembered that today just happens to be “pink out” day at work in honor of breast cancer awareness month. How convenient. By this time, I’ve already got the blouse on, so it’s too late to try to find something else to wear, but I would have, because I’m like that. I’m a person of principle and although it may come as a shock to you – I do not support the whole Susan Komen movement. Now before you start tying me up with all your pink ribbons, let me explain.
First of all, I hate cancer. I have lost a few people who were dear to me from the disease, most importantly, my mother and father in law. I also have had several friends affected by breast cancer including one who died from the disease when she was only 35 years old. On top of that, I’ve had my own moment of terror after discovering a lump in my breast, which thankfully turned out to be nothing serious. So why in the world would I not completely support the Susan Komen Foundation who is trying to raise money for research and raise awareness for early detection?
Do you know the number one cause of death of women in the United States? Breast cancer? No. The number one killer took 329,238 female lives in 2006, according to the CDC (the most recent data available – this may be higher for 2009). Breast cancer took 41,426 lives. That’s a pretty significant difference. As bad as breast cancer is, consider that 89, 271 women died from lung cancer. That’s more than twice as many women that breast cancer claimed. But when you combine those two deadly killer statistics, 130,697, it still doesn’t come close to the 329, 238 women who died because of the number one killer. Have you figured it out? The answer is heart disease.
So why do you think breast cancer gets so much attention when there are more alarming issues facing women and claiming many more lives? Marketing. The answer in a nutshell is that the folks behind breast cancer awareness are much more talented in marketing than any other groups out there who are just as desperate to find a cure for their targeted disease. I’ve never seen football players wearing a color to promote awareness of heart disease? Did you notice all the pink jocks? That’s pretty clever marketing. Do I think we should not have breast cancer awareness campaigns? Of course we should! But I think we should get our priorities straight. It seems we are prone to ignoring facts and finding a popular hot topic to run with….want proof? Consider the Swine flu pandemic.
Yes, I’m going there. Once again, let’s turn to the CDC for some statistical figures. The first thing I noticed on the CDC website is that there is no available data (that I could find) for the number of people who have died this year from H1N1. They do have the number of infant mortality which is currently at 43. However, I found it interesting that they disclosed that all their numbers regarding flu mortality is a combination of all types of flu and pneumonia combined. That means that out of the 43 infants who died, some had the common seasonal flu and some had pneumonia. We cannot know how many died specifically from H1N1.
Once again, I am not attempting to reduce the seriousness of the flu. But I think it’s important to understand what a pandemic is and how they determine when we are in one. We simply cannot continue to be bullied into fear by the media or the government when the numbers do not add up! How concerned would you be if you were told that between 350,000,000 and 500,000,000 are diagnosed EVERY YEAR with the flu and 1,000,000 of those die? Annually? 1,000,000 people die every year. Now THAT would be a pandemic, right? Well guess what? That has been the statistical data for malaria for years! How can we compare the few thousand people who have died from the flu (that’s combining seasonal flu and pneumonia) with the one million who die every year from malaria?
These are just a few things to think about the next time you feel pressured to wear pink or give money for a pink ribbon. If you are wondering why we are so skewed in where we put our attention and effort, here’s one last thought for you to ponder. The best way to wipe out heart disease is not extensive research or some expensive drug or medical treatment. Every doctor will tell you the best course of action is prevention through diet and lifestyle changes. There’s not much money in that. Remember the million people who die every year from malaria? The life saving treatment costs $2 per day for 7 days. Not a lot of money to be made there either. The cure for most lung cancer? Free. Stop smoking!
Remember, marketing is about money. Causes should be about saving lives.
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