Be Aware of Cancer Awareness

It is safe to say that in your travels you may have come across some sort of cancer awareness campaign. There are so many cancer awareness campaigns these days how could you not; they can include breast cancer to brain cancer and everything in between. The question many people ask about these cancer awareness campaigns is how much are they really helping in the fight against cancer? This question does not have a definitive answer. The subject of cancer awareness is just to broad to be able to say for sure, but for the most part these cancer awareness campaigns do helpa lot and in some cases more than others. The whole point of a cancer awareness campaign is to spread awareness to the world about different types of cancer. The more people involved in cancer awareness, the better the chances we have for a cure. This is true only to a certain extent though. Cancer awareness is only half the battle, the other half is raising money to help in the fight against cancer. This is the area where the issues arise with most places.

Considering how many cancer awareness campaigns there are and all the different cancer merchandise being sold, you would think the cure would be just around the corner. This is not the case as we will discuss with the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon. This pink ribbon has been a great symbol for breast cancer since the early 1990’s and has become one of the most prominent cancer awareness campaigns to date. You can purchase a pink cancer awareness ribbon world wide in wide variety of places, from convenience and grocery stores, to hospitals, and of course, to direct cancer awareness campaigns; but where is all this money going? This is where the issues come in with all the cancer awareness campaigns. Are they doing their job? These pink ribbons have become so mainstream that when you see one you relate it to cancer awareness, whether it is from an actual cancer awareness foundation or not. These smaller companies, and even some of the larger ones, will sell you these cancer awareness ribbons and only a small fraction of the cost will ever make it to the fight against cancer. The only part of the cancer ribbon that is trademarked is the logo, so selling a blank pink ribbon, while it may still represent breast cancer awareness as far as anyone is concerned, is turning a profit for these dishonest companies.

 These cancer awareness “scams” have been popping up all over the place and it has made the need for researching before donating necessary. Selling these blank pink cancer awareness ribbons is only one way that people have turned a profit from a cancer awareness campaign; fake foundations are as well. A fake foundation under the guise of cancer awareness, and fighting for the cure, will take in all kinds of money and of that money only a small percentage will ever be used against cancer. Of course, these types of cancer awareness foundations eventually get caught, but with legal loopholes, and other technicalities, many of the people running these cancer awareness foundations have gotten away with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Since there will always be people out in society trying to profit off of another’s misfortune, and those aren’t the people you want to help, it is always a good idea to look in to any cancer awareness foundation before u decide to donate to. Sure, when you are at the supermarket and you see a cancer awareness ribbon you don’t have time to research, but for other donations and even volunteer work, make sure you are fighting on the side of the good guys.