Take action to end pinkwashing!

The largest breast cancer organization in the world, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has commissioned a perfume that harms women’s health and is selling it in the name of breast cancer.

The perfume, called "Promise Me," contains chemicals which are categorized as toxic and hazardous, including Galaxolide (a synthetic musk that works as a hormone disruptor and has been detected in blood, breast milk, and even newborns) and Toluene (a potent neurotoxicant linked to a variety of demonstrated negative health effects and known by most people as one of the toxic trio).

At Breast Cancer Action, we call this pinkwashing and we urge you to Raise a Stink! with us about it.

Have you already taken action and want to spread the word? Click here to ask your community to take action with you.

Subject:

Your Letter:

Dear Ambassador Brinker, Ms. Lucero, and Ms. McGhee,

I am joining with Breast Cancer Action (BCAction) to urge you to take the following actions to prioritize women’s health over pinkwashing profits:

(1) Immediately recall Promise Me perfume from distribution and sale in order to take every precaution to protect women’s health.

I am outraged to learn that Susan G. Komen for the Cure commissioned a perfume called Promise Me to sell in the name of breast cancer. According to independent lab testing, Promise Me contains chemicals not listed on the label that: (a) are regulated as toxic and hazardous, (b) have not been evaluated for safety with humans, and (c) which have demonstrated negative health effects. One of the ingredients in Promise Me is even banned by the International Fragrance Association!

While I am pleased to hear that Komen is working with the manufacturer to reformulate Promise Me perfume, I remain deeply concerned that Komen has not taken immediate steps to ensure that women are not exposed to the chemicals of concern in Promise Me by informing women of the potential health risks. I call on Komen to adopt the highest standards and take every precaution to protect women from suspected health threats by immediately and voluntarily recalling Promise Me.

(2) Sign BCAction’s Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing.

As a giant in the breast cancer field, I call on Komen to take every precaution when it comes to the pink ribbon products they promote. The term pinkwasher was coined by BCAction in 2002, as part of its Think Before You Pink® campaign, to describe 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 known or suspected to be linked to the disease.

Despite the progress in the breast cancer field over the last thirty years, today too many women are diagnosed with breast cancer and too many women die. We still do not know enough about the causes of breast cancer. Any organization which strives to “end breast cancer forever” must take every precaution to ensure that women are not exposed to anything which is suspected to increase the risk of breast cancer, even if direct cause-and-effect data is not yet available. In the absence of scientific consensus we need to adopt the highest standards: when in doubt, leave it out!

Please reassure me that Komen will never engage in pinkwashing. I urge Komen to sign BCAction’s Pledge to Prevent Pinkwashing, which you have already received from Breast Cancer Action.

Promise us that Komen is committed to putting patients before profits by taking every precaution when it comes to all partnerships and the pink ribbon products they promote.

Thank you for joining me in putting women’s health first.

Sincerely,

Nancy Brinker

CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Katrina McGhee

Chief Marketing Officer, Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Margo Lucero

Vice President, Susan G. Komen for the Cure