Cricket World Cup 2015 Asked To Use Synthetic Balls
Written by Vegetarian Star on March 24th, 2011 in Animal Issues, Athletes-Games-Sports, Environment-Eco-Green.
Activists have written to the president of the International Cricket Council, Sharad Pawar, asking him to replace the traditional leather balls used during the game with synthetic ones.
“As the so-called “Gentleman’s game,” cricket should be gentle on animals and the environment by making the switch to synthetic balls. You are in a unique position to create a change that would alleviate massive suffering and destruction,” PETA official Poorva Joshipura wrote.
Activists say not only is the use of leather causing animals to suffer, but people as well, as there are toxic chemicals used in the tanning process that pollute the environment.
In Banglasdesh, more than 90% of workers in tanning factories suffer from a severe physical malady from the exposure. These illnesses range from the acute such as asthma to serious, life-threatening diseases like cancer. Chemicals such as chromium, known for their toxicities, are regularly dumped into nearby streams and get into water supplies.
In the U.S., the equivalent sport king that uses so much leather is football. Ever wonder how many cows go into the balls used by the NFL?
Book Of Odds has an article meant to be sarcastic, but still contains facts that may be of interest to vegetarians and environmentalists.
Asking what the odds are of a cow making it to the Super Bowl, it calculates how many hides are used each year for the sport.
Wilson Sporting Goods provides the NFL with about 700,000 footballs per year. One cowhide can produce anywhere from 15-25 footballs, meaning roughly 35,000 cowhides are used to manufacture NFL footballs each year.
To make a long story short, the odds of a cow making it to the NFL in football form are 1 in 17,420,000.
What are the odds of Wilson Sporting Goods manufacturing synthetic balls for the NFL in the future?
Maybe better than a cow’s chance at the playoffs, as the company already produces synthetic balls for weekend family bowls.
Photo: Carribean Cricket/Creative Commons
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