Susan G. Komen for the Cure has previously been ridiculed for its bullying of other charities and its lawsuit against any charity using “for the cure” in its name or advertising. Now it is receiving criticism for cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates and preventive screening services. It is the first time the organization has cut off such funding based on a new rule involving organizations under investigation by Congress.
The House oversight and investigations subcommittee announced in the fall that it would investigate Planned Parenthood’s funding. The organization often becomes a hot button issue during election periods due to the abortion controversy.
Komen has been targeted in a campaign to defund Planned Parenthood. Last year, it hired a vice president who had previously advocated for the group’s defunding in her run for Georgia governor.
Source: Washington Post
eniobob, who do you think will profit most by all that drug testing?
Maybe the fracturing of the US healthcare system is a good thing…we already have in place an infrastucture to provide basic healthcare to everyone….and it already is up and running….it’s called the VA . Now that the big name for profits and the ‘charities’ are so determined to provide the anti-thesis of what the American people need, it is a golden opportunity to tweak and expand the VA system to completely deprofitize healthcare at the top get back to the actual work of PROVIDING real, tangible, effective and results based HEALTHCARE and EDUCATION to ALL of the citizens and those who they drag here to do thier work for them… Cut all the politics, carpetbaggers and swinging door bill-fillers right out of the equation…. 🙂
This dog is passing out bumper stickers which say:
Cure Komen, Stop Komen In My Neighborhood.
Its a rather long bumper sticker but it gets a lot of honks and barks. If she could stop the komen she could stop all the pregnancies.
The other bumper sticker, which goes over well at the hospital with the staff is:
Copy This Komen
Her bark is worse than her bite.
There is a petition site up now, asking SGK to change their new policy. You can sign the petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/komen-plannedparenthood/
Susan G. Komen, Pinkwashing? “Promise Me” It’s Not True
Submitted by Anne Landman on September 28, 2011
PRWatch/Center for Media and Democracy
http://www.prwatch.org/NODE/11043
October is fast approaching, with its annual deluge of pink ribbons and cause marketing campaigns that leverage emotions surrounding breast cancer to sell products. In past years, PRWatch has reported on questionable “pinkwashed” products like buckets of fried fast food, cringeworthy “I Heart Boobies” bracelets marketed to teenagers, and even a pink “breast cancer awareness” Smith and Wesson handgun.
This year, the Susan G. Komen Foundation — the nonprofit organization that created the corporate phenomenon of pinkwashing — is hawking its own highly questionable pinkwashed product: a perfume called “Promise Me” that retails for $59.00 a bottle and reportedly contains chemicals, some of which are not listed on the label, that are a suspected hormone disruptor, a known neurotoxin and an anticoagulant banned for use in human food, respectively. Breast Cancer Action, a grassroots organization that exposes the role of corporations in cancer “awareness” campaigns, points out that some of the chemicals in Komen’s “Promise Me” perfume are categorized either as toxic and hazardous, have not been evaluated adequately for human safety, or are known to have negative health effects. One of them is galaxolide, a synthetic musk that bioaccumulates in fat tissue and is suspected to be a hormone disruptor. Galaxolide can be detected in blood, breast milk and newborns. Another is toluene, a petroleum-based solvent and neurotoxin with known negative health effects (pdf), according to theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Toluene is banned by the International Fragrance Association. A third chemical of concern is coumarin, an anticoagulant initially marketed as a pesticide against rodents, and and additive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned as a human food additive decades ago. Moreover, the author of a breast cancer blog called Uneasy Pink calculated, based on Susan G. Komen’s budgetary profile, that after overhead, packaging and marketing, only $1.51, or just 3 percent of Promise Me’s $59.00 retail price will actually go to funding breast cancer research.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has heard the concerns about its perfume brand and says it is taking steps to reformulate the perfume “to remove any doubt about the ingredients.” But while they are reformulating it, the original product is still being sold in stores and online. Breast Cancer Action has issued an action alert on their Think Before You Pink blog urging people to ask Susan G. Komen for the Cure to stop pinkwashing and recall its remaining “Promise Me” perfume immediately.
It appears that under Karen Handel’s leadership, the Komen Foundation has rather quickly adopted the Tea Party ideology. I also suspect that Ms. Handel will use her position as a launching pad for other political activities. The only sensible response is to redirect donations to non-political charities.
Komen has gone after other cancer orgs that simply use pink in their ads. The American Cancer Society has long provided subsidies to people with cancer who need help with treatment. PP is reportedly planning to develop a cancer screening fund. Appealing to the “good” that Komen does as a defense seems to fall short. Instead this should shine a light on who they really are and what they stand for.
I’m just passing this on,to say some time “WE” win:
Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/welfare-drug-testing-bill_n_1237333.html
Oh no, by band The Cure may be doomed … yikes …
Elaine, I don’t know that Joan Walsh is right that komen destroyed its brand but it is definitely tarnished.
Swarthmore mom,
Here’s an excerpt from The Atlantic article that helps explain why some right-wingers hate Planned Parenthood and want to have it investigated and defunded:
“The money provided by Susan G. Komen for the Cure went to just a fraction — about 19 according to one report — of Planned Parenthood’s more than 85 affiliates. And it was all — roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before that — used for breast-cancer screening and other breast-health services for low-income, uninsured, and under-insured women.”
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/01/komen-breast-cancer-foundation-throws-planned-parenthood-under-bus Joan Walsh said that komen just destroyed its brand.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/who-is-behind-susan-g-komens-split-from-planned-parenthood/252327/ Karen Handel was endorsed by Sarah Palin when she ran for governor of Georgia.
I think the best policy would be to relive the folks in the Komen Foundation that changed the policy and made it political….
raff,
Under normal circumstances…I think defunding would be the answer…However…it is my understanding that the Komen Foundation makes money available for women who do not have the means to pay for it…
I am afraid if you defund one…then they will go after the hospitals..the other clinics…whatever may make a political statement…
It is unfortunate that the Komen Foundation had to change its policy’s and make it political partisanship…Health issues are no more race or sex oriented…
Didn’t RWR…apologize to the kid that got aids through a blood transfusion…Ryan White or something like that…
Partisanship is destroying this country…..
It is time to defund the Susan G. Komen foundation. Their political steps may have hastened the death of poor women who can’t afford the medical care.
So now these morans are going to politicize charity, swell. They have managed to drag politics into so many apolitical corners of the nation I suppose it had to happen sooner or later.
Really though why are these sky pilots even interested in a cure? If God loved you he wouldn’t have given you cancer in the first place. If He did give you cancer he could cure it without help and prayer is free.
If you are too poor to pay for your own mammograms that is prima fascia He doesn’t love you already.
They’re off my donation list, I’ve sent them an email informing them and I’m encouraging people, particularly women, to do the same and to do it loudly.
Eric Erickson’s “Red State” is now asking its readers to donate to Komen because they listened. Komen has always been a Dallas organization with strong republican ties. Nancy Brinker, its founder, served in George Bush’s administration. The fact that they hired the Georgia republican politician is not surprising.
“Komen has been targeted in a campaign to defund Planned Parenthood. Last year, it hired a vice president who had previously advocated for the group’s defunding in her run for Georgia governor.”
The moral of the story is “You all must suffer so my God (me) will be happy”….You invite the fox to guard the hen-house and you get what you pay for….