By John Sharify
SEATTLE - Pop star Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boy fame could have spent his day off in the Seattle area visiting the Experience Music Project, or just kicking back between gigs at the Tacoma Dome.
But Monday afternoon, he went right to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The 29-year old star of the teen heartthrob group the Backstreet Boys, wanted to learn more about the connection between the environment and cancer.
He talked to experts at the Hutch. "I feel like there are ties between the health of our Earth and the health of our people," says Richardson, whose father died of colon cancer in 1991 at the age of 49.
Richardson recently created an Environmental Foundation to look into the link between cancer and the environment.
"I feel like there's a connection," he said.
"We're still learning about that yet. But I feel in my heart there is a connection. I mean we know that the more toxins you breath, drink, and eat, the higher the risk of cancer, the more carcinogens you put in your body, the higher the risk."
Kevin Richardson is in town, as part of an eight week North American Tour.
Monday night is the BackStreet Boys' second and last performance at the Tacoma Dome.
You'd think Richardson would want to talk about his groups' Black and Blue World Tour.
Not this afternoon, all he wanted to talk about was how we can reduce the incidence of cancer.