It is our last and final week of action for our Alternatives to Pink Campaign. We thank you in advance for all of your hard work and support of our initiatives.
This week, we are asking that you help us send a message to the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers: It is time to focus on primary prevention and to allocate greater resources to stopping cancer before it starts!
We know that more than 95% of funds raised by big events like the Weekend To End Women's Cancers are earmarked for building, equipping or updating cancer treatment centers. This leaves a very small amount that might be used for research into the primary causes of breast cancer — which is where BCAM believes much more money should be spent.
BCAM is understandably concerned about the best possible treatment for the growing number of women diagnosed with breast cancer. On the other hand, we feel strongly that more money must be devoted to the investigation of the environmental effects of toxins in our food, air, water, household cleaning products and cosmetics if we are to stop what is rapidly becoming epidemic.
Join us in action this week because, if we search for the cause we won't have to run for the cure!
Send your email today!
Subject : If we search for the cause, we won't have to run for the cure!
Message : Dear organizers and administrators for Montreal's Weekend to End Women's Cancers,
Montreal's annual Weekend to End Women's Cancers brings together thousands of women and men in support of the fight against women's cancers. To date, over $36 million has been raised enabling numerous advances in cancer research and care. Proceeds continue to fund innovative research, treatment and lifestyle prevention programs for breast cancer at the Segal Cancer Centre. This October, I am calling on the Weekend to End Women's Cancers to focus on primary prevention and allocate greater resources to stopping cancer before it starts.
While I am concerned about the best possible treatment for the growing numbers of women diagnosed with breast cancer, I feel strongly that more money must be devoted to investigating the environmental effects of toxins in our food, air, water, household cleaning products and cosmetics if we are to stop this epidemic.
More than 95% of funds raised globally by events like this are earmarked for building, equipping or updating cancer treatment centers. This leaves a very small amount that might be used for research into the primary causes of breast cancer — which is where I believe much more money should be spent.
Too often, when we talk about causes of the disease, women themselves are made to take the blame: we're told that we eat the wrong foods or don't exercise enough, or drink too much alcohol. Making good lifestyle choices are important but the tendency to blame the victims, coupled with the grossly unequal distribution of research dollars, leaves very little money for research into the root causes of the disease. The carcinogens in our air, water and food are often an afterthought in Canadian cancer messages, as are the serious hazards in our homes and workplaces.
In short, while I realize that treating and curing breast cancer are important goals, I am taking this opportunity during the month of October to raise awareness about the possible environmental links to breast cancer so that this disease can be stopped before it starts. To this end, I am encouraging the Weekend to End Women's Cancers to allocate a greater percentage of their research monies to determining the root causes of women's cancers rather than just treatments. It is important to me and to my family that we begin to understand the environmental causes of cancer, because I don't think that breast cancer has to happen!
If we search for the cause we won't have to run for the cure.
Sincerely,
