Susan G. Komen for the Cure is coming under fire today for cutting off hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to Planned Parenthood that were used to provide underprivileged women with breast cancer screenings. We've never been big fans of Komen because it funds cruel animal tests, so we are sending Planned Parenthood a list of cruelty-free charities to look into working with.

Many of us have stayed away from Komen because the organization does women a great disservice by wasting money on archaic animal experiments that have proved to be ineffective. In one recent study funded by the Komen foundation, mice had tumor cells injected into their brains. When the animals developed brain tumors, they were killed, and the tumor tissues were implanted into other mice, who had their necks broken and their brains cut out and dissected. After billions of dollars spent and billions of animal lives lost, we still have no cure for breast cancer. Mice do—we've been curing cancer in mice for decades. But the methods don't transfer to people.

Fortunately, many cancer charities are investing in modern, effective non-animal research. The resources that we gave Planned Parenthood include the American Breast Cancer Foundation, the Breast Cancer Fund, BreastCancer.org, the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Keep A Breast Foundation, all of which fund preventive care and/or reliable research methods.

We encourage everyone to visit HumaneSeal.org to see a list of charities that are truly trying to save lives—both animals' and people's.

© Robyn Mackenzie/ Dreamstime.com

"If shopping could cure breast cancer, it would be cured by now," says Think Before You Pink, an organization dedicated to ending "pinkwashing"—slapping pink ribbons on products in order to convince consumers that they can end breast cancer by buying pink products. In truth, reports Forbes, corporations seek to profit off consumers' strong feelings about breast cancer while simultaneously marketing products that actually contribute to the disease.

Such was the case with KFC's cancer-linked chicken, sold in "Buckets for the Cure," which, adding insult to injury, didn't really raise much money for cancer research, either, as is often the case with pinkwashing campaigns. And what little money makes it to breast cancer research frequently goes to support antiquated, unreliable experiments on animals.

I lost the person I was closest to in the world—my grandmother—to breast cancer, but I know that no matter how many pink sun visors I buy, it is unlikely that I am doing much to help with the search for a cure. Women deserve better than greedy corporations throwing a few pennies at a charity in exchange for huge profit margins. We deserve better than having our money spent on experiments that have proved to be useless. We deserve a cure, and the only way to find one is to stop buying pink doohickeys and start supporting breast cancer research that works—cutting-edge, effective, non-animal research.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, please look at PETA's list of cruelty-free charities and join us in supporting breast cancer research that really works.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Watching my cherished grandmother suffer through breast-cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, then pass away, was the hardest thing that I have ever gone through. I felt so helpless—then I became determined to help find a cure. For me, that meant participating in walks and other fundraisers for breast-cancer charities that are actually helping us get closer to a cure by funding cutting-edge, effective, non-animal research.

After decades and billions of dollars spent tormenting and killing dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, mice, rats, and other animals, we still have no cure for breast cancer. Experiments on animals are unreliable because of the significant genetic, cellular, and physiological differences between species. Former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Richard Klausner has stated, "The history of cancer research has been the history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn't work in humans."

While every 12 minutes in America, another woman dies from breast cancer, organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation waste money on cruel, archaic animal experiments, and people are starting to say "Enough." The Seattle Veg Singles group was set to do a charity walk for Komen, but when the group learned that the charity funds experiments on animals, it immediately canceled its plans.

If you want to help raise money for breast cancer research, do women a favor by supporting one of the many charities that don't fund experiments on animals, including the American Breast Cancer Foundation, the Keep A Breast Foundation and the Breast Cancer Fund. And let the Susan G. Komen Foundation know that it won't be getting a dime from you until it stops funding animal experiments.

Written by Michelle Sherrow