This is important not just for prevention but also what having HIV actually means and what it entails. We as a nation are far too unaware of what having HIV actually means and how it is transferred.

This October we urge women and men to join us in removing the pink ribbon blindfold and in asking Breast Cancer Charities to do the same. Why, despite all the money raised, are more and more of us are getting this disease? Is it possible that we’re not being given the full picture on the breast cancer epidemic that has taken us from 1 in 12 chance of a woman getting the disease in her lifetime in 1995 to a 1 in 8 chance today? Why are Breast Cancer Charities refusing to acknowledge the environmental and occupational risk factors for breast cancer, when the evidence is already out there? ALL women need and deserve a full understanding of ALL potential risk factors for the disease that threatens women’s lives and health. Now is the time to question why Breast Cancer Charities continue to focus solely on ‘lifestyle’ risk factors such as diet and exercise, while ignoring the potential 60% of breast cancer cases for which they have no explanation. What about the role of chemical, environmental and occupational exposures in this? Why, when the World Health Organisation states that prevention (which is not the same as early detection) offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for the control of cancer, do we not see this reflected in our cancer plans and strategies? Why is primary prevention (stopping the disease before it starts) not equally addressed along with better treatment and care? Why are those with the power to influence decisions on breast cancer policy not acting on what we already know? Join us this October in removing the pink ribbon blindfold and asking the Breast Cancer Charities the Big Question: WHY they persist in refusing to acknowledge the role of environmental and occupational toxins by ignoring decades of evidence up to the present day on the link between our lifelong (womb to grave) exposures to toxins and the escalating incidence of breast cancer? Actions: There are various actions you can take: 1. Join us in removing the pink ribbon blindfold on the 1st of October for the social media launch of our campaign. Do your own action in a group or individually - take a photo removing the blindfold and share on your Facebook page or via social media twitter - @pink_prevention Instagram - pink_to_prevention Flickr group - From Pink to Prevention. 2. Sign our petition, and share widely. 3. Get your organisation to sign up to our statement - www.frompinktoprevention.org 4. Write to your Breast Cancer Charity to ask them the big question. Please send us a copy of their response. See a sample letter on our website. www.frompinktoprevention.org 5. Visit our Facebook page for poster to share: https://www.facebook.com/FromPinktoPrevention 6. World Health Organisation Asturias Declaration: http://www.who.int/phe/news/events/international_conference/Call_for_action_en.pdf 7. For more information on the evidence linking breast cancer and environmental and occupational risk factors: http://www.frompinktoprevention.org/resources/scientific-evidence/ 8. Pink Ribbon Blindfold picture Copyright to Mark Chilvers, thank you to Unison for the use of the picture. Concept by Helen Lynn.

The sick and infirm are going without care because they can't afford it due to the fact that, during their WORKING lives, they saved for their retirement. These same people are paying through the nose for their medication whilst trying to exist off the meagre pension the government gives them, currently the third worst pension in the EEU. Students worry about hanging a millstone around their necks in the form of student loans. There are thousands of overseas students attending UK universities, why not charge them a little more to subsidise our students. They are our future and should be fully supported.

Our government has decided to act on the current 'migrant' crisis which is due to people power through petitioning/campaigning, putting pressure on unwilling politicians to take the necessary action and provide these people with support they desperately need. I am so proud of the people of Britain for standing up and making themselves un-ignorable in this situation. HOWEVER, This won’t come without great cost to Britain, where will the money come from to accommodate these terribly unfortunate people? We still have growing numbers of homeless on our streets, our NHS is still suffering and many are still unemployed. Usually to cover the cost the government would issue welfare reform (cuts) and/or raise taxes. We've been on that merry-go-round for far too long and it only adds to poverty and suffering. THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN! If we look to America, in states where marijuana produce has been legalised (Colorado etc), they are metaphorically swimming in cash, with thousands of new jobs, a whole new multi-million dollar industry re-introduced into their society and we can have that too! Since Colorado became the first state in the US to allow people to trade marijuana-produce legally, from January 2014 the state took in $53 million in tax revenue in its first year!. That’s just one state. Imagine the money that could be raised in the UK, imagine what help that could do, a whole bunch of surplus cash from an inexpensive plant that grows in dirt.. The demand is definitely there for cannabis based goods, so why not end prohibition? Use the funds we make through taxation of cannabis-produce to help wherever we can, to provide opportunity wherever we can. OUR HOMELESS CAN BE HOUSED, THE UNEMPLOYED CAN RECEIVE TRAINING AND BECOME EMPLOYED, WE CAN ACCOMODATE DISPLACED 'MIGRANTS' OUR NHS CAN RECIEVE THE FUNDING AND SUPPORT IT NEEDS, WE CAN CREATE MORE JOBS, MORE INDUSTRY. WE CAN GROW, WE CAN PROSPER, TOGETHER! P.s A petition for cannabis legalisation was considered not long ago by our government, after receiving over 200,000 signatures, the response from government wasn't that which we'd hope for. you can see the governments’ response here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104349 <<(please also sign&share)<< Lets not take no for an answer. Lets remind them of the good this reform would do for our country and our people and those fleeing war-torn countries The benefits legalisation are too good to ignore, It’s time for change! PLEASE SEE THE GOOD IN THIS AND SIGN. THANK YOU SO MUCH

The surgery currently serves over 4000 patients in our local area. The one GP we have left at the surgery is struggling to attract younger doctors to work at the practice, mainly because the premises needs modernising and developing. This will require an investment of funds from NHS England or from a benevolent property developer. Our GP is reluctant to move but feels she has no choice. If there is no money to develop the premises, the proposal is to merge with a 7000 patient surgery on the other side of town. I feel there is so much to lose if this move should take place, especially the loss of community, which I think will never recover once it has been lost

Cymmer is a small community in Port Talbot where there is a swimming pool that 5other communities also use. It is great to keep kids and adults alike fit and healthy. There is not much else in this area to keep kids fit and healthy. The local government complain about kids being obese and unhealthy yet they are going to close the only facility that can help tackle this problem the local schools within a 8 mile radius use this facility for recreational use. My daughter and friends would be devasted if this pool closed. There is an action group set up to keep the pool open that will be be run by the community. Please please help me and thousands of other children and parents keep this pool open.

Marijuana has been proven virtually harmless multiple times through verified studies. Along with this the effects of it are less than alcohol and the effects are less permanent. Marijuana is far safer than both Tobacco and Alcohol yet is still banned in the United Kingdom today. The evidence is all there to prove it is safe and should be legal. Pros: Weed is 114 times safer than alcohol Since being legalised in American States, Overall, crime has fallen by 15% and murder has dropped by 50%. Dope is actually less addictive than drinking coffee Legalising weed would recharge the British economy (If we legalised cannabis, up to £900m could be raised annually in taxes, according to the Institute for Economic Research.) Cons: You feel really tired and lazy for a few hours Smoking can harm the body ( Though edibles are 100% safe) So should it really still be banned? More info: http://www.theweek.co.uk/health-science/59417/the-pros-and-cons-of-legalising-drugs-in-the-uk

To all British retailers, Just over 4 months ago I found out I was pregnant. Since that moment my life has been a roller coaster ride of emotions ranging from so-excited-I-could-burst to oh-my-god-what-are-we-doing?-this-is-absolutely-terrifying. Indeed, as a FTM or first time mum there are lots of things to get my head round. Knowing what FTM means for example, or becoming highly acquainted with the toilet bowl. There seems to be an endless list of adjustments to be made, whether it be my sleeping position or how to sneeze without causing myself pain. All of these things I hadn’t expected. I actually said to a friend that I’m convinced the reason why it’s been deemed bad luck to share your pregnancy news before you’ve completed the first trimester is because the first trimester is so bloody horrible that if non-parents were to know they’d never consider starting a family. All in all it’s been emotional. One of the biggest factors to contend with is the effect of pregnancy on your body. People talk about the pregnancy glow but I must admit I can’t say I feel bouncing when every part of my body hurts, I’m out of breath, covered in spots like a pubescent teenager and watching my body expand by the day. Like any woman I take pride in my appearance, like to keep up to date with fashion and know that when I’m not feeling my best I want to be dressed in my favourite clothes. This has been a problem. On a recent visit to the UK I was looking forward to hitting the streets of London and Manchester and getting my hands on some maternity clothes. I’ve reached the point of no return with my ‘normal’ clothes and I was looking forward to shopping in the both fashionable and affordable high street stores. Sadly I shouldn’t have bothered. After dragging my podgy ankles up and down Oxford Street I realised that it was time to make another realisation: I was now an outcast of society. All the stores I entered (bar three) told me that they no longer stocked maternity clothes in-store, instead opting to sell them online. Now I’m a big online shopper, I love it, especially living abroad but I only love it because after 30 odd years I know my size. Being pregnant I don’t. Never has there been a more important time to try clothes on because I’m still coming to terms with my ever-changing shape. Trying to explain this to various shop assistants and managers I got some sympathetic glances and suggestions to try plus size clothing but i left feeling hugely disappointed. It’s not as if I’m the only pregnant woman in the world so what has changed the attitudes of the retailers? Why is being pregnant now out of fashion? Most fashion stores now stock a variety of ranges for different body types, tall, petite, plus-size. So why has pregnancy clothing suddenly been deemed uncommercial? In the few stores I visited which did stock maternity clothes there was a very limited range (usually just a rail or two) and bizarrely these sections were located in the most inaccessible parts of the store, requiring me to climb several flights of stairs, manoeuvre through enthusiastic bargain-hunters and rifle through childrenswear before finding my one pair of over-the-bump jeans. The store whose praises i would like to sing however is H&M. In virtually all the stores I entered I found a maternity range, clearly signposted and easy to find and with a decent range of fashionable clothes at reasonable prices. Were it not for them I would probably have burst into tears a few times during my shopping trip (I’ll blame the hormones). So to all the other retailers who have, for some unbeknown reason, decided to purge their stores of maternity clothes and move them all online; I urge you to reconsider. Having children is a wonderful thing and mothers are truly awesome at dealing with pregnancy and childbirth (trust me on this one) so please, please don’t alienate young mothers and make their self esteem take yet another beating. At a time when everything is changing lets allow mothers to at least indulge in a good bit of retail therapy. Yours sincerely (and pregnant) Olivia

Anticoagulants are only prescribed lifelong when there is a definite high risk of repeat incidents of strokes, heart attack, blood clots or similar. I personally suffered a blood clot, which was a pulmonary embolism blocking both arteries in my lungs and was told I would be lucky to survive the night. I was 29. There was no fault of my own attributed to the clot. And due to the severity of the clotting and the likelihood of repeats, with such a high risk of death I now rely on anticoagulants to prevent this. However, I have to pay for these, along with other medications which are related to the side effects of my drugs. This makes it very costly. These costs are inconsistent so it is not efficient for me to pay monthly. As an example, let's say I get a cold, firstly I'll be blowing my nose a lot which, due to the anticoagulants, gives me nosebleeds and I will need a prescription for a cream to help heal the capillaries in my nose. Secondly I will cough somewhat, and due to the scarring on my lungs, I will need painkillers for chest pain, but I cannot take over the counter ibuprofens as they are contraindicative to anticoagulants so I need prescription strength codeine. Plus my normal anticoagulants. That's three prescriptions just for a cold. And the added medications will send my anticoagulants levels out meaning I am no longer protected against further clots and therefore need a bridging medication until I'm better. That's four prescriptions just for a cold! Overall, I believe that because anticoagulants actually save my life and the lives of so many others on a daily basis, they should be provided free of charge.

When the NHS is stretched to the limits, this is money that could be better used.

Common decency and humanity should have made this petition unnecessary. Read more here: http://www.hamhighbroadway.co.uk/news/health/fury_over_department_of_health_delay_allocating_25m_to_contaminated_blood_victims_1_4158234

It's important not to ignore duty of care, decriminalizing cannabis so that people can use it as medicine for thereselves will elevate pressure away from the n.h.s, boost the economy and help people get off the opium, heroin and morphine based drugs which are getting people addicted or worse though overuse