NEWS

Thanks, but No Thanks: Breast Cancer Group Declines Funding

Jennifer Roemer

Could the mission of a non-profit breast cancer organization be compromised by a donation from the manufacturer of a cancer treatment drug or detection device? Members of Breast Cancer Action, a San Francisco-based national advocacy group, think so.

In a maverick move among national breast cancer organizations, BCA recently enacted a policy that prohibits it from accepting donations from companies that potentially contribute to or profit from cancer incidence.

The policy, adopted in August 1998 and first published in the group's October/November 1998 newsletter, defines as unacceptable contributions from pharmaceutical, chemical, oil, and tobacco companies, as well as health insurers and cancer treatment centers. However, corporate matching gifts initiated by employees working in these industries are still acceptable because individuals maintain control over them.

By refusing contributions from certain industries, BCA aims to affirm its political integrity in the eyes of its constituency. "The purpose of this contributions policy," explained BCA's Executive Director Barbara A. Brenner, "is that when people look at what we stand for and what we write in our newsletter, they will know that we have not been influenced by who gave us money."



View larger version (134K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Barbara A. Brenner

 
The new guidelines also mean that the group can avoid embroiling itself in potentially messy situations "where corporate support raises the possibility, inference, or perception of a conflict of interest," according to the policy statement.

No False Claims

The policy also outlines how, in addition to refusing financial support from the health care industry, BCA will not accept contributions "from corporate entities whose products or manufacturing processes directly endanger environmental and/or occupational health, or possibly contribute to cancer incidence." For Brenner, this stance against environmental polluters means that "no organization out there can claim that it really supports the fight against breast cancer because it donates money to Breast Cancer Action."

According to the most recent annual report, more than half of BCA's $300,000 in financial support in 1997 came from individual contributors, while the rest was provided primarily by foundation grants. "This says a lot about who we are," continued Brenner. "We never sought out pharmaceutical support; we're truly a community-based organization."

So far, BCA has returned only one check. While the new policy was still under consideration last summer, the group declined a $1,000 donation from Genentech, Inc., the South San Francisco, Calif., biotechnology company that manufactures the breast cancer treatment drug Herceptin and had previously given money to the organization.

When asked if she received a response to BCA's "very nice letter" enclosed with the returned check, Brenner replied, "No. They probably don't know what to do with it."

Although a few of BCA's members questioned the new policy, most seem to have embraced it. "One member who sent us a letter saying, ‘You're cutting off your nose to spite your face,' enclosed a check," said Brenner.

Responses from women's health activists and other breast cancer organizations have been mixed. BCA's change in policy comes at a time when partnerships between breast cancer advocates and corporations, especially pharmaceutical companies are becoming commonplace. For example, both Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wilmington, Del., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology, Princeton, N.J., underwrite the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's major fundraiser, Race for the Cure.

Other national advocacy groups like The Breast Cancer Fund, San Francisco, which has given close to $3 million to innovative cancer projects and programs around the country including Breast Cancer Action, evaluate corporate contributors on an individual basis.

In this sense, a common interest, rather than a conflict of interest, underlies the organization's relationship with its donors. "The Breast Cancer Fund has a very clear policy. Money from corporations is ours to do what we want with to further our mission [against cancer]," remarked Andrea R. Martin, founder and executive director of the group.



View larger version (128K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
 
Andrea R. Martin

 
Martin, whose organization has been chastised in the past for accepting funding from an oil company, believes the issue is "neither black nor white." While many advocacy groups' goals are alike — raising awareness of and fighting cancer — the means by which they accomplish these goals are at times very dissimilar. "Every breast cancer group occupies a different space on the political spectrum, and there are choices that each organization makes," Martin said. "Ultimately," she continued, "we're using the money for a good cause."

Martin firmly believes in working with, rather than against, a company that has questionable environmental practices. "If you're going to solve the problem of breast cancer and its links to environmental pollutants," she said, "you have to have all stakeholders at the table."

Despite The Breast Cancer Fund's different outlook on corporate financial support, Martin refuses to criticize BCA's contribution policy. "We [breast cancer organizations] have enough on our hands," she explained. "We do not have time to bash sister organizations and take time away from the real mission of fighting corporate pollution," she concluded.

Still, health activists like Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D., chair of the National Women's Health Network in Washington, D.C., maintain that the interests of cancer advocates will inevitably conflict with those of companies with a vested interest in cancer. "It's wonderful that BCA has established a policy," she said, because "there's no way that an organization is not compromised by whom it accepts money from."

While it would be a "wonderful outcome" for Brenner if other cancer advocacy groups follow BCA's lead, she knows not everyone will agree with the new contributions policy. "But," she said, "it will at least prompt people to think about where they stand on corporate contributions. I think then people will see that Breast Cancer Action is really talking about change and that this policy is the sort of thing to make change happen."



             
Copyright © 1999 Oxford University Press (unless otherwise stated)
Oxford University Press Privacy Policy and Legal Statement