From Pink to Green - (Critical Issues in Health and Medicine) by Barbara L Ley (Paperback)

About the Book

From Pink to Green successfully explores the intersection between breast cancer activism and the environmental health sciences, incorporating public and scientific debates as well as policy implications to public health and environmental agendas.

Book Synopsis

From the early 1980s, the U.S. environmental breast cancer movement has championed the goal of eradicating the disease by emphasizing the importance of reducing-even eliminating exposure to chemicals and toxins. From Pink to Green chronicles the movement's disease prevention philosophy from the beginning.

Challenging the broader cultural milieu of pink ribbon symbolism and breast cancer "awareness" campaigns, this movement has grown from a handful of community-based organizations into a national entity, shaping the cultural, political, and public health landscape. Much of the activists' everyday work revolves around describing how the so called "cancer industry" downplays possible environmental links to protect their political and economic interests and they demand that the public play a role in scientific, policy, and public health decision-making to build a new framework of breast cancer prevention.

From Pink to Green successfully explores the intersection between breast cancer activism and the environmental health sciences, incorporating public and scientific debates as well as policy implications to public health and environmental agendas.

Review Quotes

"A probing, honest, eye-opening account of society's mixed messages about breasts and the environment, written by one of the most talented social scientists of her generation. Barbara Ley exposes the flawed, but human faces of scientists, breast cancer activists, and the social and political context that shape their lives."

--Devra L. Davis "founder and director of the Devra Lee Davis Charitable Foundation" (3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"In her provocative exploration of the ever-changing terrain of breast cancer groups, Barbara Ley reveals how activism and science interact to shape our
beliefs about breast cancer and its causes. This is a book to challenge the beliefs of all its readers, whether they are pink or green, scientist or activist, policy wonk or general reader."--Sharon Batt "author of Patient No More: The Politics of Breast Cancer" (1/1/2099 12:00:00 AM)

"Seeking prevention by reducing toxic exposures, environmental breast cancer advocates promote strategic 'greening, ' strategic science, and strategic regulations. Ley tells a riveting story on how links to broader environmental efforts nourish and help sustain multiple health movements."--Adele E. Clarke "University of California San Francisco, co-editor of Biomedicalization" (1/1/2099 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Barbara L. Ley is an assistant professor in the department of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.