In an opinion piece by our Executive Director Dr. Krystal Redman (KR/they/she), the controversy behind Susan G. Komen’s Pink Ribbon Banking Program is unabashedly called out, and KR fearlessly names how environmental racism is inherent to the fossil fuel industry.
Here's a snapshot into what KR outlines in the piece:
"Just as this banking program has snuck under the radar and escaped the scrutiny faced by many other pink ribbon marketing partnerships, so too has Komen’s near-refusal to acknowledge the environmental causes of breast cancer."
Why might Susan G. Komen downplay the science on the environmental exposures linked to breast cancer? KR’s op-ed makes it abundantly clear:
"One obvious reason for this omission is that many of the corporations responsible for toxic environmental exposures are some of Susan G. Komen’s biggest co-conspirators. In the case of the Pink Ribbon Banking Program, the large donation pledged by Bank of America, a major fossil fuel funder, results in a conflict of interest whereby Komen cannot acknowledge or act on the link between fossil fuel exposures and breast cancer."
This must-read piece shows that fossil fuels are destroying our lands, poisoning our water, causing climate catastrophe, and increasing our risk for breast cancer. Yet Komen props up this very industry – that can cause the disease the organization claims it to wants to end – through their participation in the pink ribbon banking partnership.
