I’m no fan of breast cancer. I’ve watched friends and family suffer the emotional roller coaster, the pain and suffering of breast cancer and its treatment.
With Breast Cancer Awareness month in full swing, I appreciate that the manliest of sports is acknowledging and supporting a mostly female disease in stadiums and on countless TVs across the nation. And raising funds for breast cancer research is certainly admirable. But hello NFL!
The pink chin straps, the pink cleats, the pink padding around the goal posts? By commissioning such nonsense, you are contributing to the problem rather than helping to solve it. Plastic products containing bisphenol A (BPA) have been linked to the development of breast cancer. An article in The Atlantic states:
“BPA is everywhere, with the CDC concluding that more than 90 percent of Americans are chronically exposed. Such pervasiveness is, in the words of one of the study’s seven authors, Dr. Frederick vom Saal, “nothing short of insanity.” The University of Missouri endocrinologist also does not hesitate to use the word “scary,” comparing today’s use of BPA to the use of lead in paint a century ago.”
Parading around in pink plastic and dressing the football field up like Barbie may give NFL fans the warm fuzzies, but you’ve also just contributed to the body burden of countless men, women, and children.
Sure, the NFL plans to auction the apparel worn by the players and donate the proceeds to the American Cancer Society. But is it worth it? Is it worth polluting our environment and our bodies? It just doesn’t make sense to raise funds by auctioning off items that are contributing to the problem in the first place.
Rather than adding more chemicals to our world, the NFL would do well to put their efforts toward making a difference environmentally.
- Stop selling bottled water. Instead, offer fans the chance to bring their own stainless steel, BPA-free refillable water bottles and provide filling stations throughout the stadium. And sure, sell team bottles, too – so long as they’re BPA-free.
- Replace the plastic bags at the team shop with paper.
- Serve drinks in paper or biodegradable cups.
- In addition to trash receptacles, offer containers for recycling and composting.
- And for heaven’s sake, stop selling those stupid foam fingers.
Transforming a professional football game into a low-waste, low-BPA event would make a much larger impact on the health of American women than the embarrassment of pink-washing that’s set to go on throughout October.
Photo: Flickr user pfala under Creative Commons 2.0
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Readers, thank you for letting me go on a little rant – this kind of thing makes me crazy. What do you think? Is the pink plastic worth it?
Very interesting post, Kris. It does seem like breast cancer awareness campaigns have turned into the popular thing to do and a huge merchandising opportunity. I'd ask, is it really helping breast cancer research?
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