Cancerland

I'm anti-Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

No, it's not because I hate the fact that my birthday month is overshadowed by that sickly pink color everywhere. No, it's not because I don't think breast cancer is important to talk about. No, it's not because I think October needs to belong to Halloween, or because other cancers don't get talked about* or any other silly superfluous reason.

I'm anti-Breast Cancer Awareness Month because the whole thing is an industrial complex designed to get people to buy buy buy while people die die die.

It's Sickening with a capital S. Here's what makes it worse:

We have found no evidence breast cancer is caused by abortions, early onset menopause, late childbirth, or any kind of behavioral choices. We have found no evidence there is a genetic aspect to breast cancer, and if there is, it is in a very small number of women. What we have found evidence in, is that when women live in industrialized countries, their rates of getting cancer go up. What we have found is that corporations use carcinogenic substances when they create products -- like plastics, cars, and more, so that when you buy buy buy, you most definitely die die die.

That's how it works. And the more money we spend on everything pink, every October (what is this, some kind of morbid holiday?), the more carcinogens are released in the air and into your body. The very companies RESPONSIBLE for releasing these carcinogens are the companies that pay big money to advertise all their teddy bears, ribbons, even walks for a cure**. Welcome to Cancerland, as Barbara Ehrenreich would say.

I don't like conspiracy theories, but I do believe that if a cure were to be found for cancer, there would be a massive corporate effort to keep it quiet. After all, there's no profit to be made in good health.

*My mother had leukemia, but there's no month for that particular cancer.

**AstraZeneca, which essentially created Breast Cancer Awareness Month, was a leading producer of pesticides recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as human carcinogens. Now, AstraZeneca manufactures the drug tamoxifen, which is used as treatment for women with breast cancer. There are many companies doing this today -- creating the disease, finding a "treatment" (not a cure) to sell, and acting like a savior for making a profit.