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While October is National Vegetarian Month, it is better known as Breast Cancer Month. We all know the pink ribbon and these days it is hard to go to the shops without seeing something that has been pinkified. While the pink ribbon campaign has raised millions, not all is kosher. An organisation called Think Before You Pink seeks to uncover those companies that are Pinkwashing. Pinkwashing is basically saying you are going to do one thing (help find a cure for breast cancer) while you actually do another (either raising very little money or actually producing products that might actually cause breast cancer).
Let me give you an example. This year in the US Yoplait is running a pink campaign where you send in a yogurt lid and 10 cents are donated to Breast Cancer. Hmmmm. It costs 39 cents to mail the lid?! You would need to eat 100 yogurts to give $10! Wouldn't it just be easier to donate $10 directly? Plus the yogurt contains dairy product from cows that have been given rBGH (a growth hormone) which may be linked to increased rates of cancer (according to Think Before You Pink, Wal-mart and Starbucks are already making their dairy products rBGH free).
Perhaps the biggest concern for Think Before You Pink though is the cosmetics companies. True, they are amongst the largest fundraisers. But they are very profitable (Estee Lauder sales are over $8 billion; its donation to Pink Ribbon campaign in the US - on the back of selling product - was $500,000). Estee Lauder, as well as every other major cosmetic company, has refused to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. According to the Environmental Working Group in the US only 11% of the 10,500 ingredients in beauty products have been tested. Even of those tested there are those ingredients that have been linked to increased risk for cancer. For example, paraben, a very common ingredient in beauty products, is estrogenetic. The greater our exposure to estrogen, the higher the risk of breast cancer. The cosmetic industry would say that they are present in very small quantities in each product, but it is the sum of all the stuff we put on us that matters.
Pink can also be not very green. Think about Mt. Franklin (owned by Coca Cola) water here in Australia and their pink cap promotion. First, plastic can leach dioxin (particularly if you leave your bottled water in the sun and then drink it) which has been linked to increased rates of breast cancer. Add to that the waste of plastic bottles (see Plastic Water Bottles or Jimmy Choos? ) and it is not very pink or green.
Perhaps the best answer is not to buy the pink stuff but to raise money the old fashioned way and write out a check to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. xxx
Photo credit: Jenny Yoo Bridal Collections.Source: Think Before You Pink website. Gorgeously Green. Not Just A Pretty Face. The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry
