a biography of the day-barbara brenner (breast cancer activist) 1951-2013

[niyad]

Barbara Brenner, Breast Cancer Activist, 1951-2013


Lawyer and activist Barbara Brenner led the organization Breast Cancer Action to national prominence, demanding not just “awareness” of the disease but research into causes and prevention. Although she overcame breast cancer herself, she died last week from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at age 61.
. . . . .
It often took me years of conversations to catch up with Barbara’s thinking. She was the one who first talked to me about the over-promise of mammography. She also talked about the lack of centralized data on cancer patients and cancer research. That just sounded wonky to me, but now I finally get how critical that work is.
Barbara may be best known for coining the term “pinkwashing” (again, years before anyone really “got it”). Pinkwashing is when companies claim to care about women and breast cancer by sporting the pink ribbon while at the same time producing products linked to the disease or other threats to public health. There are legions of examples. In my recent Times article I wrote:

Having football teams don rose-colored cleats, for instance, can counteract bad press over how the NFL handles accusations against players of rape or domestic violence. Chevron’s donations to California [Susan G.] Komen affiliates may help deflect what Cal OSHA called its “willful violations” of safety that led to a huge refinery fire last year in a Bay Area neighborhood.

During her tenure at Breast Cancer Action, Barbara launched the high-profile “Think Before You Pink” campaign. She was also featured in the recent documentary, Pink Ribbons, Inc.

. . .


http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/05/13/barbara-brenner-breast-cancer-activist-1951-2013/