It's breast cancer awareness month, which means many corporations are rolling out products with pink ribbons. October marks a special time of year for all the people who have had their lives touched by breast cancer. This time of year, stores are awash in shades of pink as corporations attempt to play into the push for awareness. This means products adorned in the signature pink ribbons or plunged into pink and promises to pour proceeds into research.
While it is great that corporations are taking the chance to raise awareness about the disease, it seems that many of their attempts are half-hearted.
Companies are pretending to care about breast cancer while actively producing carcinogens.
Every October, Breast Cancer Action chooses a company to target for "pinkwashing" in their annual "Think Before You Pink" campaign. According to Breast Cancer Action, a pinkwasher is "a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease." This year they have chosen to focus on the company 3M. Among the products that 3M sells are post-its, marked with pink ribbons, and pink stethoscopes. 3M also sells Scotchgard, a product that is made with PFAS, a "forever chemical" meaning that it is nonbiodegradable.
In other words, 3M has been exposing consumers to chemicals known to be linked to cancer.
PFAS has been linked to cancer, as well as thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, and developmental problems. Reports suggest that 3M has been aware since the 1970s that PFAS has contaminated the international food and water supply and that most people in the US have now been exposed to the cancer-causing chemical.
But 3M is not the only company that pinkwashes their products.
Estee Lauder hands out pink ribbons at all of their makeup counters and lights up a monument in bright pink every October. However, last year, they donated only 0.5% of their profits to breast cancer charities. These are just two examples out of many companies that claim to support breast cancer awareness yet actively produce products that can cause the disease.
It's time to turn the pink ribbons into real action.
