Becky Striepe
Unless you’ve been on an Internet hiatus for the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably seen the news about Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood. While it’s still unclear whether Komen will fund future grants to support Planned Parenthood, the whole debacle has some folks taking a closer look at Susan G. Komen and the idea of “think pink” in general.
Vivian Nelson Melle at our sister site, Green Living Ideas, shared some excellent insights into why that pink ribbon on a product doesn’t really make it better, and I thought you guys might like it too. If you want more detail on any of these issues, I highly recommend checking out the original piece over at Green Living Ideas. Here’s the short version:
- A pink ribbon on cosmetics doesn’t guarantee that they’re free of toxic ingredients, even suspected carcinogens.
- Products with pink ribbons on them still often come in plastic packaging made with BPA.
- Pink lids on conventional dairy products don’t mean the milk is free of hormones linked to cancer.
- Komen’s breast cancer walks often leave something to be desired from an environmental standpoint, and more shockingly from a health standpoint.
I am all for supporting breast cancer research and my heart goes out to women who are struggling with breast cancer, but you have to ask yourself: what does that pink ribbon stand for?
{Image Credit: Think Pink photo via Shutterstock}
