‘Endorsements’ and Cancer Society Mission

Recently, the American Cancer Society announced partnerships with two organizations--both established for the sole purpose of furthering our mission to bring cancer under control.

The partnerships will help us call attention to two important mission priorities: helping people to quit smoking and teaching people about a healthy diet that can help them prevent cancer. In addition to generating $2 million for cancer control per year, the partnerships will create tremendous public awareness of life-saving information.

Unfortunately, the tone of the conversation surrounding these announcements has been set not by the facts, but by the opinion of a single Associated Press reporter covering the story (“Cancer Society Sells Name in Exclusive Endorsements,” Aug. 17). We would like to set the record straight.

The American Cancer Society does not endorse specific products. We will continue to provide credible, unbiased information about any product or issue relevant to cancer. What we have done is to form educational and awareness-building partnerships with trustworthy organizations whose products and goals match an aspect of our mission.

If everything that is already known about cancer prevention and treatment were applied universally, we could reduce our current rate of cancer death by perhaps two-thirds! We have this life-saving information. If “ethics” play any role in this debate, it is with our obligation to use any resource available to us to save the lives we know we can.

Corporate partnerships are an exciting new way of creating an entirely new platform from which to communicate to our public and save lives--and for generating substantial funds to accomplish the mission of beating cancer. We will be careful to do so without ever doing damage to our most important asset: the trust of the American people in the integrity of our name.

GEORGE DESSART

Chairman, Board of Directors

American Cancer Society

Atlanta