# Susan G Komen cuts funding to PP **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413 "2012-02-01T13:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/241 "2012-02-04T15:51:33Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > As I mentioned before, [breasts exams are not that useful for the general population](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_screening). But for individuals, they’re a damned blessing. My mother just had a very small cancerous nodule removed (along with a single lymph node just to be safe) coincidentally on the same day this Komen issue blew up. They found it very early, and because of that, instead of rounds of chemo, she’s going to have a couple weeks of radiation, and in all likelihood that will be the end of it. She’s going to be fine. Because she had a breast exam, and her cancer was detected when it was still tiny. It may not make a blip in the statistics, but it matters a hell of a lot to us. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/242 "2012-02-04T16:00:19Z")
That’s my point. Steve Jobs was always the face of Apple. He was the driving inspiration behind it. If Brinker got out there, maybe on Piers Morgan and expressed her original passion for SGK. Acknowledged this past week was a screw up. She’s sorry and wants to move forward. Then people would forgive and forget. It always helps to hear a real voice ask for understanding and forgiveness. People still love SGK’s mission. I lost my aunt to breast cancer and my first cousin to ovarian cancer. I just am not too happy with SGK right now. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Of course it’s a corporation, the same way that Apple is no longer two guys named Steve in a Palo Alto garage. That’s inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/243 "2012-02-04T16:30:05Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Do you have a link for that? I’m not familiar with the incident. I’m not surprised that that particular assclown is involved. From Wikipedia: > **[James O'Keefe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_O%27Keefe)** > > Defunct > Newspapers > Journals Planned Parenthood recordings (2008) In 2006, O’Keefe met Lila Rose, founder of an anti-abortion group on the UCLA campus.[33] They secretly recorded encounters in Planned Parenthood clinics. Rose posed as a pregnant teenager seeking advice; they made two videos and released them on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/244 "2012-02-04T16:32:23Z")
Way to go, Komen! Now everybody is pissed off at you. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/245 "2012-02-04T18:56:55Z")
That’s the thing; there’s pretty much no way to get back to “uncontroversial” once you’ve lost it. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/246 "2012-02-04T23:05:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > While that may be true, women with limited access to healthcare may not know if they are in a sub population at risk until they come in and discuss it and get a baseline exam. So by defunding it, you put another barrier in place for low income women to have that conversation with a doctor. I was wondering, and hence the wiki quote, if the money could go more for awareness of being in an at-risk population than the actual test which end up causing many more biopsies which cost money (even if free for the specific woman). > [@Jenaroph](#): > > But for individuals, they’re a damned blessing. > > My mother just had a very small cancerous nodule removed (along with a single lymph node just to be safe) coincidentally on the same day this Komen issue blew up. They found it very early, and because of that, instead of rounds of chemo, she’s going to have a couple weeks of radiation, and in all likelihood that will be the end of it. > > She’s going to be fine. Because she had a breast exam, and her cancer was detected when it was still tiny. > > It may not make a blip in the statistics, but it matters a hell of a lot to us. I understand what you’re saying. If it affects you, it’s 100% of the cases and nobody gives a dman about statistics. Good to hear that your mum will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/247 "2012-02-04T23:47:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > That’s the thing; there’s pretty much no way to get back to “uncontroversial” once you’ve lost it. How long you think before they rebrand to avoid this association? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/248 "2012-02-07T15:37:58Z")
Bumping this because [Karen Handel has resigned from SGK.](http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/02/07/karen-handel-resigns-from-komen-for-the-cure/) ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/249 "2012-02-07T15:44:16Z")
I’m glad she gone because she seemed to have an agenda and politicized an issue that didn’t need it, but I still feel that Komen is not a trustworthy charity for my donation anymore. Like **Tom Scud** says, the damage may be done for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/250 "2012-02-07T16:12:54Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I’m glad she gone because she seemed to have an agenda and politicized an issue that didn’t need it, but I still feel that Komen is not a trustworthy charity for my donation anymore. Like **Tom Scud** says, the damage may be done for me. It was done for me when they decided to “litigate to defend their brand”. This was the nail in the coffin. More disturbing than the pp defunding is stem cell defunding. But they are gone. And I suspect you and I are not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/251 "2012-02-07T16:29:31Z")
If Komen is going to weather this in any way, the entire Board that approved her proposal and recommendation needs to resign, and the organization needs to start over from the ground up. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/252 "2012-02-07T16:56:36Z")
Nice resignation letter… it seems it’s everyone else’s fault, but she’s going to leave anyways. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/253 "2012-02-07T17:12:51Z")
Wonder if this will involve a severance package of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/254 "2012-02-07T18:00:11Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Wonder if this will involve a severance package of some sort. Her letter specifically states that she’d decline one if offered. Speculation is that the offer would be contingent on her keeping her trap shut about this whole fiasco, and declining it leaves her free to blather on. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/255 "2012-02-07T18:21:52Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > If Komen is going to weather this in any way, the entire Board that approved her proposal and recommendation needs to resign, and the organization needs to start over from the ground up. I’m pretty sure the woman who founded the organization in memory of her sister is not going to quit. And while these things should absolutely not be influencing Komen’s policy, it’s not that surprising that they have tight links to Republicans. Brinker was an ambassador to Hungary under G. W. Bush for about two years and then held an advisory position in the state department for the last 16 months of his term. I wasn’t aware of that but I figured it might be the case when I saw Ari Fleischer was involved with their hiring (and that he said he was taking only a token fee). I don’t think people should make decisions about SGK based on her personal politics, but these things shouldn’t be bleeding over into the organization’s policies this way. The Planned Parenthood thing is a pure culture-war move, and the stem cell research funding decision put politics ahead of research into breast cancer treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/256 "2012-02-07T18:31:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m pretty sure the woman who founded the organization in memory of her sister is not going to quit. And while these things should absolutely not be influencing Komen’s policy, it’s not that surprising that they have tight links to Republicans. Brinker was an ambassador to Hungary under G. W. Bush for about two years and then held an advisory position in the state department for the last 16 months of his term. I wasn’t aware of that but I figured it might be the case when I saw Ari Fleischer was involved with their hiring (and that he said he was taking only a token fee). And that’s why I don’t think the organization will recover. She’d have to leave the organization she founded in order for the organization to start with a clean slate, which she’s not going to do. > [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t think people should make decisions about SGK based on her personal politics, but these things shouldn’t be bleeding over into the organization’s policies this way. The Planned Parenthood thing is a pure culture-war move, and the stem cell research funding decision put politics ahead of research into breast cancer treatment. Again this is why the organization, I think, won’t recover, because she clearly CAN’T keep her personal politics from bleeding into the organization’s policies and mission. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/257 "2012-02-07T19:14:53Z")
An [article](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/02/06/what_does_the_susan_g_komen_foundation_actually_do_.html) in Slate points out that the Komen Foundation spent $50 million on cancer screening, $75 million on research and $140 million on “breast cancer awareness education” in 2010. What is the point of spending all that money on awareness? Who isn’t aware of breast cancer? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/258 "2012-02-07T19:30:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > An [article](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/02/06/what_does_the_susan_g_komen_foundation_actually_do_.html) in Slate points out that the Komen Foundation spent $50 million on cancer screening, $75 million on research and $140 million on “breast cancer awareness education” in 2010. What is the point of spending all that money on awareness? Who isn’t aware of breast cancer? Just guessing but “Breast cancer awareness education” probably means advertising for the SGK fund but this way they don’t have to count it as administrative costs. Some of us look at the percentage of administrative costs of a charity when deciding where to put our money. Some charities seem to be more interested in paying huge salaries to the people who run them than they are about doing the job they claim to be doing. SGK is well beyond that point in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/259 "2012-02-07T19:33:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What is the point of spending all that money on awareness? Who isn’t aware of breast cancer? That wasn’t the case when Komen showed up. I do think they put too much effort into raising awareness through merchandising and such- I don’t know if it becomes really counterproductive but much of it seems pointless. But it’s also true that if they dumped all that money into research it wouldn’t necessarily make anything happen faster, and they’re not going to take the awareness thing for granted. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/260 "2012-02-07T20:53:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Bumping this because [Karen Handel has resigned from SGK.](http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/02/07/karen-handel-resigns-from-komen-for-the-cure/) Curious letter. The decision to drop Planned Parenthood, first described as a general policy not to fund organizations “under investigation”, is now a decision made to avoid “controversy”, as if breast cancer activism has been otherwise devoid of controversies (mammographic screening criteria, Avastin etc.). And of course, the decision nevertheless had nothing to do with politics. Um, right. And here’s an interesting line from Handel: “As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges.” “Perceived challenges”? What does that mean? Does Handel think Planned Parenthood confabulated its opposition or role in women’s health care? If Handel is right and there remain others high up in Komen hierarchy who think as she does, that’s an additional argument for supporters to direct their donations to other breast cancer organizations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413.md?page=14)