Komen and the Pinkwashed Drill Bit: Fracking "For the Cure"

[WilliamPitt]

(Image: Cancer awareness, Drill bit via Shutterstock;
Edited: EL / TO)

Komen and the Pinkwashed Drill Bit: Fracking "For the Cure"
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Thursday 09 October 2014

Two years ago, the breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure came desperately close to exploding itself when it announced that it was cancelling its grants to Planned Parenthood for mammograms and other medical procedures vital to women's health. All over the country, women raised seven shades of scalding Hell over Komen's backward priorities, and the organization took a fierce fundraising hit from which it is still attempting to recover.

Flash forward to this week, right in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Komen has once again stepped on a land mine it planted in its own path. In a PR move worthy of The Onion, it was announced this week that Komen has teamed up with Baker Hughes, one of the largest fracking concerns in the country, to paint 1,000 fracking drill bits pink in an effort they claimed will "serve as a reminder of the importance of supporting research, treatment, screening, and education to help find the cures for this disease."

They've called it "Doing Our Bit for the Cure." No, really.

The response was immediate and ferocious. The organization Breast Cancer Action denounced the Komen/Baker Hughes drill bit collaboration as "pinkwashing," a term they originally coined which is defined as, "A company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease."

"We are outraged that as the largest breast cancer organization in the world, you are partnering with a fracking corporation that is poisoning our health," continued Breast Cancer action in a statement. "Pink drill bits are a pinkwashing publicity stunt. Fracking is a toxic process - at least 25% of the more than 700 chemicals used in fracking are linked to cancer. By taking money from these companies and giving them permission to use your name, you are complicit in a practice that endangers women's health. You have created a perfect profit cycle whereby Baker Hughes contributes to causing the very disease you raise money to cure. This is unacceptable to us. Our health is not for sale."

(snip)

California is enduring a drought of historic proportions, and billions of gallons of precious water have already been used in the fracking process, often in the most drought-stricken areas of the state. Now we learn the very water used in fracking has been vomited into California's shrinking water supply. If Breast Cancer Action's numbers are correct, and 25% of the chemicals used in fracking are known to cause cancer, an astonishing number of Californians have been put at risk.

Thanks, fracking. Doing your bit, indeed.

One wonders who is in charge of Komen's public relations department these days. There is a saying that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually re-create the works of Shakespeare. By the same token, an infinite number of monkeys banging away on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually come up with a marketing strategy as catastrophically ugly as this. Komen didn't need the monkeys; they did it all by themselves.

Komen, of course, reacted to the criticism by claiming, "The evidence to this point does not establish a connection between fracking and breast cancer." The same dodge was successfully deployed by the tobacco companies for decades. Next up: pink cigarettes, brought to you by Komen and Phillip Morris. "Let's Help Breast Cancer Go Up in Smoke!"

I really wish I was trying to be funny. At this point, nothing would surprise me.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26731-komen-and-the-pinkwashed-drill-bit-fracking-for-the-cure

[Cleita]

1. As a California woman and one of many who are trying to stop fracking in this

state, this latest slap across our collective faces goes beyond the pale. Fracking in this state is beyond the pollution it causes. It could cause major earthquakes in a state riddled with faults.

[nykym]

10. Question

Are fracking companies exempt from Prop 65 compliance?
Prop 65 allows for citizen lawsuits against companies who use chemicals known to cause cancer, birth Defects or reproductive harm.
Might be an interesting way to go after them.

There is a rise in what are called Bounty Hunters, persons aligned with legal firms going after possible violators.

[Cleita]

14. I don't know. It would be worth looking into.

I know there is a moratorium of sorts right now while the coastal commission studies it. Of course they are vulnerable to bribes and threats like most agencies and maybe this pink drill thing has a purpose there.

[Cleita]

15. You might find this interesting.

I had to come to a different computer to post a link.

http://www.coastal.ca.gov/pdf/W7a-2-2014_Fracking%20Briefing.pdf

Page 22 re: the Monterey shale especially concerns me as I live in the area and it has the last operating nuclear power plant in California, El Diablo. Recently the plant had a public meeting regarding seismic studies they did about how safe the plant is. According to their expert shills everything is hunky dory and there is nothing to worry about. Locals accept the findings because the power plant is a major employer in the area so they look the other way. I, on the other hand, feel like we are sitting on a powder keg especially with the oil companies push to drill.

[nykym]

18. There are a lot of nuke plants

sitting on or near fault lines across the nation.
It is simply surprising how they get around that.

[2naSalit]

2. How symbolic can one get?

I mean, really? A DRILL BIT???!!!?? WTF??

Makes me despise them all the more.

[KT2000]

3. Simple -

for every corporate sponsor, Komen should show us the research that says their products, or rather the chemicals in their products, come up clean for causing breast cancer, or any kind of cancer.

The way I see it - the corporate sponsors and their pink crap are buying protection. Komen needs to show us the research they have accomplished with all the money they are hauling in.

[blm]

7. Komen's been a corporate elite PR tool/scam since the 90s.

If they were a lung cancer group they would 'partner' with Tobacco Companies and claim they don't 'believe' that cigarettes cause cancer.

They started their cutesification efforts in answer to the growing call to deal with the REALITY of breast cancer being led at the time by NYT and amplified by the work of artist/photographer Matuschka. The 'You can't look away, anymore' movement, made too many RWers and cancer-causing corporations uncomfortable.

http://www.beautyoutofdamage.com/

[Cleita]

16. Considering that most non-profits only actually need to use a third of their contributions for

actual research and contributions to the cause, I'd say the administrative costs of 2//3rd that they are allowed to keep are making the operators and board of directors very rich if the oil companies are involved now.

[KoKo]

4. Just when one thinks things can't get any crazier...or the madness

will stop.... Something like this comes up. Pink Drill Bits in support for Susan Koman's Breast Cancer fight?

Comic Book America.

[blm]

5. Will - read this from CBC on pink washing:

https://storify.com/cbccommunity/pinkwashing-breast-cancer-awareness

If you want to pursue this, you could line up an interview with Matuschka who has not been shy about her disdain for Komen and pink washing.

[WilliamPitt]

6. Thank you

[WilliamPitt]

8. Up with you

[logosoco]

9. I'm going to K&R, but I think I am on the wrong internet today if this is not the Onion. nt

[Oilwellian]

11. Thank you for writing about this...

and giving it more exposure. The story has been bothering me since I read about it yesterday.

K&R

[PeoViejo]

12. Fracking for the Cure

is like Fucking for Virginity.

[Retrograde]

13. Does Komen donate any actual money to cancer research

or does it all go into these cutesy ploys to "raise awareness"? By now, I would think every person in the Western World is aware that breast cancer exists, and probably has a friend or relative who's been diagnosed - if not themselves. I'd rather see the money spent on treatment and actual research.

Pink drill bits indeed: are we sure this isn't The Onion?

[LadyHawkAZ]

17. If they really found a cure, they'd be out of business

Gotta keep the donations rolling in somehow.

[Fritz Walter]

19. It's October again, and everything is turning pink

Seriously, yesterday I saw a guy who had dyed his beard pink! (Although, I didn't get close enough to make sure it was his own facial hair).
Pink shirts.
Pink buildings (and this is Florida, so it's important to distinguish bright pink from coral or other shades that are more common here than you'd think).
Pink packaging on products in grocery stores.
And, of course, billboards announcing pink-themed fund-raising events for Komen, "Race-for-the-Cure," etc.

I'm not looking for an excuse to withhold support for a worthy cause, but I want to be prepared in case someone asks me to contribute. I just pulled up the "Susan G. Komen for the Cure" profile on Charity Navigator. It does not look good. Only two out of four stars.

Eighty percent of their expenses go to "programs" while 10 percent is spent on fund-raising and another 8 percent on management. The comments on their profile are very revealing, particularly the fact that the CEO is pulling down $209,000/year, while the founder (and chair of global strategy) is still drawing a salary of over $480,000/year.


Can anybody tell me what they're doing to right this ship, other than hoping that nobody mentions their 2012 Planned Parenthood fiasco and the abovementioned 2014 Fracking blunder?

I think I have an answer in case I'm asked, but want to keep an open mind.

Thanks!