NY Breast Cancer Charity Campaigns Under Review

Schneiderman launches review of marketing campaigns that promise to benefit breast cancer charities

With National Breast Cancer Awareness Month under way, the New York Attorney General's Office on Thursday launched a review of commercial marketing campaigns that promise to benefit breast cancer charities with the sale of certain products and services.

The office's Charities Bureau began sending questionnaires to about 130 companies and 40 charities engaged in breast cancer "cause marketing," requesting details within 20 days about advertising, promised donations, campaign duration and donation limits.

"Consumers who intend to support this cause deserve to know that their purchases do the good promised," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said, noting they have become important fundraising tools for charities. "This review will help ensure that cause marketing campaigns provide the benefit that's expected, and that we protect consumers, charities, and above all, the women and families affected by this devastating disease."

All the charities are registered in New York, though the companies are not all based in the state, spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua said. The office declined to publicly disclose their names, saying the review was ongoing.

In June, Schneiderman's office sued to shut down the Coalition Against Breast Cancer, which he called a sham charity on Long Island that fraudulently raised $9.1 million over five years while spending more than 95 percent of the money on itself.

In another attorney general's case in August, two people pleaded guilty in Nassau County to criminal charges for misusing more than $500,000 donated to the unregistered charity Coalition For Breast Cancer Cures. The money intended to fight breast cancer was diverted to pay for travel, shopping and other personal expenses.

According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 207,090 women were expected to be diagnosed and 39,840 would die from breast cancer last year. The relative five-year survival rate, based on 2001-2007 data, was 98.6 percent for localized cancers, meaning confined to the primary site.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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