Why October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - and why we wear pink ribbons
Although people typically associate the month of October with spooky season and the beginning of fall foliage, the month is also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer Awareness Month dates back to 1985, when the American Cancer Society picked one week in October and teamed up with the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries – now part of AstraZeneca, which has worked to develop medicines for breast cancer treatment. The initial goal for the week-long event was to raise awareness towards breast cancer screenings and mammograms. First Lady Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer when her husband, former US president Gerald Ford, was in office. As a breast cancer survivor, she initially helped bring attention to the disease during the week-long event. Over the years, the original week transformed into a month-long event. The goals for Breast Cancer Awareness Month have also evolved over time, such as supporting people diagnosed with breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer, educating people about breast cancer risk factors, stressing the importance of regular screening starting at age 40, and fundraising for breast cancer research. However, the well-known pink ribbon associated with Breast Cancer Awareness Month wasn’t introduced until the 1990s. The inspiration for the ribbon dates all the way back to 1979, when the wife of a hostage who had been taken in Iran tied yellow ribbons around the trees in her front yard as a symbol of her desire to see her husband return home safely. Ribbons were also used years later during the AIDS epidemic, when activists made bright red ribbons to represent those affected by AIDS. The AIDS ribbon was made mainstream after the 1991 Tony Awards, when actor Jeremy Irons was the first to publicly wear the pinned ribbon with a singular loop while hosting the awards show. A woman named Charlotte Haley is attributed with the creation of the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon, as she was the granddaughter, sister, and mother of women who have all battled breast cancer. Initially, she designed the breast cancer ribbon to be peach-coloured instead of pink. With each ribbon, she passed out a card that read: “The National Cancer Institute annual budget is $1.8 billion, only five per cent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up our legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.” Because of her success in passing out thousands of ribbons, many corporations and news outlets reached out to Haley asking to showcase her ribbons and the message she was promoting. She declined each offer as she believed they were “too corporate”, but Self magazine was increasingly persistent. The magazine’s lawyer insisted they change the symbol’s colour, and the pink ribbon was born. In October 1992, the pink ribbon first spread across the nation after Estée Lauder displayed the symbol on its cosmetic counters throughout the country. While the iconic shade of pink is normally associated with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, other colours have been introduced, including hot pink for inflammatory breast cancer; teal and pink for hereditary and gynecologic cancers; pink and blue for male breast cancer; and teal, pink, and green for metastatic breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women after skin cancer. There is a 13 per cent chance, or one in eight chance, that a woman will develop breast cancer at some point in her lifetime. Although breast cancer is more typically associated with women, it can also occur in men. In 2021, President Joe Biden designated 17 October to 23 October as Men’s Breast Cancer Awareness Week. While Friday the 13th may be a spooky-themed day, don’t forget that it’s also Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Read More Elizabeth Hurley issues reminder to women about getting mammograms as she raises awareness about breast cancer Amy Dowden delights Strictly Come Dancing fans in surprise appearance amid breast cancer treatment Jill Biden urges women to get mammograms or other cancer exams during Breast Cancer Awareness Month Elizabeth Hurley issues reminder to women about getting mammograms Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne ‘plan to be euthanised’ if they lose mental abilities Billy Connolly says reports of his ‘demise have been greatly exaggerated’
2023-10-13 06:19
How much blame does Orlando Arcia deserve for Braves Game 3 loss?
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2023-10-13 04:56
Restaurants are charging ‘vomit fee’ at bottomless brunch
Some restaurants in California are charging an additional fee to customers who throw up in the public space after drinking too many mimosas during bottomless brunch. A restaurant based in San Francisco, Kitchen Story, first made customers aware of the cleaning fee with a sign in the bathroom, as reported by SFGate. In its message, the popular brunch spot – which offers bottomless mimosa for 60 minutes – encouraged customers to drink responsibly, before describing the rules they should follow if they don’t want to be charged extra. “Dear all mimosa lovers,” the sign reads. “Please drink responsibly and know your limits. A $50 cleaning fee will automatically be included in your tap when you throw up in our public areas. Thank you so much for understanding.” Speaking to SFGate, Kitchen Story owner Steven Choi specified that the sign has been up ​​for nearly two years, after staff members had to spend a lot of time cleaning customers’ vomit. “This was still during the pandemic and it became a very sensitive issue for customers and staff having to clean up,” he said. “But this is not unique. It’s there to make the customers stop and think about other people.” Chaiporn Kitsadaviseksak, the co-owner of Kitchen Story, said that the sign has successfully prevented customers from getting sick in public spaces of the restaurant. Although he couldn’t recall the last time that someone was charged with a clean-up fee, there were multiple instances of customers throwing up before the sign went up. “People were scared with Covid. And this was happening a lot. My workers don’t want to do that,” he said. “It got better. Now [customers] know they have to pay. They understand.” Another restaurant in San Francisco, Home Plate, had a similar sign as Kitchen Story, warning customers about the cleaning fee if they vomit. The sign on the wall of the eatery read: “Please Drink Responsibly. $50 Cleaning Fee for any incident incurred as a result of intoxication.” Speaking to SFGate, owner Teerut Boon said that customers vomiting after drinking was an issue in 2021, which is why he instituted “pretty much the same policy” as Kitchen Story. While customers complained about the sign, prompting it to be taken down in July, the fee still applies. In fact, the same warning from the sign is on the bottom of Home Plate’s menu, right under the price of bottomless mimosas per person. The menu also specified that customers can only do bottomless mimosas for 75 minutes. Although it’s not the same rule as Home Plate and Kitchen, a gastropub in San Francisco, The Sycamore, has its own way of making sure that customers drink responsibly. Speaking to SFGate, restaurant co-owner Liz Ryan said that although the eatery doesn’t charge a fee to customers who throw up in the restaurant, there is one staff member who keeps an eye on how much people drink. “We have a staff member who is a mimosa fairy. They bring a pitcher around that they use to refill glasses,” she said. “There’s a [mimosa] station and it says this is for staff use only so please do not help yourself,” She also noted that during the two-hour brunch, the “mimosa fairy” goes to the dining area every 15 minutes or so to pour more of the drink for customers. Throughout the time, workers also examine how customers are behaving. “Our staff is trained to make sure our customers don’t overdo it. Nobody wants to see people throwing up. That sort of spoils the party vibe that we’re trying to create,” she said, referring to a Responsible Beverage Service training from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. As noted by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the service “teaches servers to responsibly serve alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption and mitigate alcohol-related harm in California communities”. During the interview, Ryan also claimed there have been “ways to cut people off” from drinking without them realising it. “This is the kind of thing they teach you. We practice eye contact and engagement, we come by with a pitcher of water,” she said, before acknowledging that there have been people who step outside to throw up and then come back into the restaurant after drinking too much. “People can get carried away.” Read More How to spend a day in Capitol Hill, Seattle’s trend-setting neighbourhood Film, food and festivals: experience these Maltese must-dos Amsterdam travel guide: Best things to do and where to stay for a 2023 city break Brits pay more for wine when trying to impress guests, survey finds Spice up your life: Three recipes from Nadiya Hussain’s new book that bring the heat Obsessed with Boursin? It’s the perfect way to elevate your leftovers
2023-10-13 03:54
Bodies line corridors as Gaza hospital warns it's at breaking point
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2023-10-13 03:48
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2023-10-13 03:47
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2023-10-13 02:27
UK to deploy Royal Navy ships to support Israel
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2023-10-13 02:23
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2023-10-13 02:19
Israel-Gaza war: British couple trapped with no UK help, says son
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2023-10-13 01:49
Blinken says US will 'always be there' for Israel
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2023-10-13 00:23
Ex-soldier fought off Hamas and saved kibbutz neighbours
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2023-10-13 00:19
New Zealand election: Disillusioned voters eyes shift away from the left
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2023-10-13 00:15