Get busy on breast cancer

So, when will women finally get angry about the breast cancer epidemic? One in eight of us ends up with this disease for which scientists have yet to find the cause, let alone the cure.

Meanwhile, it’s fine to run and walk and donate, but much of the Susan G. Komen hoopla and marketing amounts to a lot of pink herrings, distractions from the truth, which is this: If you want to fight breast cancer, you must fight for a cleaner environment.

Fight for tighter regulations on industries that poison our food and air and water. Reject the right-wing lie that regulation hurts the economy. Work to stop the insanity of genetically modified organisms and Keystone and Hanford and fracking and coal transport through Spokane. Insist on prevention of cancer, not just the elusive “cure.”

Also, don’t forget the conservative Komen Foundation was ready to abandon Planned Parenthood last year until the angry uproar to protect women’s health forced them to reconsider.

Finally, watch the eye-opening film “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” It’s in the Spokane Library.

And yes, I’m a survivor, with two daughters. I want action, not more feel-good pink-washing. Let’s get busy.

Lynn Schott

Kettle Falls, Wash.