A new study reveals: Cancer warning for female drinkers
New research has shown that even a small amount of alcohol – just one drink a day – can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.
That’s according to new study, which reviewed more than 3,400 research papers on the relationship of alcohol and breast cancer.
Investigators found that low level or moderate drinkers – one drink per day – had a 5% increased risk of breast cancer.
Women who downed three or more drinks each day – defined as heavy alcohol consumption – increased their risk of breast cancer by 40-50%.
The authors, from Germany and Italy, recommend that healthy women should not exceed one drink per day (equivalent to 10-12g of alcohol) and women at an elevated risk for breast cancer, such as those with a positive family history, should avoid alcohol or consume alcohol only occasionally.
Their findings are published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Alcohol consumption is recognised as a risk factor for the development of many forms of cancer and an association between alcohol and breast cancer has been established since the 1980s.
The authors point out that several population studies have shown that women have a high prevalence of light drinking in Europe and the USA.
Cancer of the female breast is slightly different to other body organ cancers as even small doses of alcohol can stimulate breast cancer development.
Hormones are understood to play a key role in the alcohol-breast cancer relationship.
This latest review looked at the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of breast cancer through hormone-related mechanisms such as oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status.
The authors found there was significant research to suggest that alcohol consumption increased the risk of all ER-positive tumours by 27%.
There was a 14% risk for all ER-negative breast cancers for the highest vs lowest level of alcohol drinking.
Further investigations by the team found more support for a stronger link between heavy alcohol consumption and ER-positive breast cancers.
Many people ‘will not pay household tax’ (still over 1 million households have not paid)
A survey suggests 39 per cent of people liable for the household charge will not pay it
Four in 10 people liable for the household charge will not pay it, a survey has suggested.
With Saturday’s deadline looming, a Red C poll for Paddy Power shows one in 10 claim they do not know if they are liable or not, while just 61% say they will settle the bill.
Older voters are more likely to have paid because of the threat of going to jail? while almost half of householders aged between 18 and 54 say they will not pay the controversial 100 euro charge.
There are also divisions along political party lines – 77% of Fine Gael supporters have agreed to pay the tax compared to 72% of Sinn Fein voters who insist they will not pay it. Almost two-thirds of voters believe the household charge is unfair, according to the survey.
The Department of the Environment said 463,238 householders had settled the levy as of 4pm on Thursday alongside another 72,000 postal applications which were still being processed.
When the household charge was first introduced, the Government estimated around 1.8 million homes would be eligible but the official figure is 1.65 million.
Environment Minister Phil Hogan warned those who do not pay by the March 31 deadline face penalties. But nine TDs campaigning against the charge have urged the public to make history with a mass revolt against the year-old Government.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins urged those who have not yet paid to maintain the boycott.
“In a democracy, the people are not supposed to fear the Government, the Government is supposed to fear the people,” said Mr Higgins. “This is the first time in the history of this state that such a massive movement of this kind has been crystallised in this way. It’s people power.”
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett called on householders to come out en masse to Fine Gael’s annual conference in Dublin this weekend in protest.
Donegal County Councillor accuses minister Hogan of scare-mongering & bullying over the household charge
A county councillor has rubbished threats of door-to-door collection of the household charge made by environment minister Phil Hogan.
Independent councillor John Campbell made the comments at the council’s monthly meeting after his motion calling on the council not to use its own personnel or hire private bodies to collect the household charge was ruled out of order.
The motion was ruled out of order after it was queried by Fine Gael councillor Bernard McGuinness. Cllr. Campbell said he has received assurances form the county manager that the council has no plans in place to start door-to-door reminders or collection of the household tax.
“There was no provision made in the council budget for these collection teams, the Minister made this decision off the cuff over the weekend in the face of the huge opposition rallies in Letterkenny, Dublin and Wexford,” Cllr. Campbell said.
“He did this without any thought to its implementation. It’s scaremongering, plain and simple.
“I also tabled a question to the county manager and the executive asking them to outline the strategy and procedures that are in place for the identification of those who don’t register and estimated expenditure of such provisions.
“The answer I got was that no strategy has been developed yet and no estimate of cost has been made.
“This seems incredible seeing as this burden on council resources was apparent since the household charge bill passed in December. I’m not happy with the answers I got and will be writing to the manager to say so.”
Polish families are reuniting in Ireland as they become the largest non-Irish group
THE NUMBER OF people born outside of Ireland but who have taken up residence here has grown to 766,770, with some of the increase accounted for by thousands of Polish women moving over to join their partners.
As of the Census date 2011, there are now 154,141 more foreign born persons in Ireland than in 2006.
The groups which showed the largest increase were those already well-established in Ireland, such as the Polish. There are now 83 per cent more Polish people living in Ireland – a jump of 52,103.
In 2011, there were 32,642 more Polish-born women living in Ireland compared with five years previous. There are now 55,584 Polish women and 59,609 Polish-born men.
The CSO said this is in stark contrast to 2006 when there was a 2:1 ratio of men:women.
This strong indicator of re-uniting families among the Polish community in Ireland is further emphasised by the tripled number of Polish-born children.
A similar – though not as pronounced – picture can be seen among the Lithuanian and Latvian communities. Overall, the number of non-Irish women increased by 39 per cent or 76,500 since 2006.
Polish people have now overtaken UK nationals as the largest non-Irish group living in Ireland.
The results for Polish migrants show that only 3,825 arrived in the year to April 2011, leading to the conclusion that most of the increase happened in the earlier part of the inter-censal cycle 2006 to 2011.
One of the fastest growing groups in Ireland are from Romania, with an extra 9,429 Romanian-born people now living in Ireland. However, at almost 3,000 in number, there are also more than 300 per cent more Mauritians in the country than in 2006.
From every corner of the world
From every corner of the world
In April 2011, there were 544,400 non-Irish nationals from 196 nationalities living in Ireland. The top 10 nationalities accounted for 70 per cent of the total.
The period between 2002 and 2006 saw very fast growth in the number of non-Irish nationals when the figures doubled to 419,733. The pace of growth has slowed considerably since then. In the five years to Census 2011, the number increased by 124,624.
The difference between the foreign-born residents and non-nationals can be accounted for, in part, by those people not born in Ireland but who hold Irish citizenship.
Younger migrants
For the second time ever, the census asked about ethnic and cultural background. In the five years preceding the data collection, the category ‘Other White’ rose by almost 43 per cent. This was largely due to immigration from Eastern European countries
An 87 per cent rise in the ‘Other Asian’ ethnic group included people of Indian and Filipino origin. The number of Indian people in Ireland more than doubled in the five years to over 16,000
The number of people who described themselves as ‘Black Irish’ or ‘Black African’ rose from 40,525 to 58,697.
People with a ‘White Irish’ background were generally older than other ethnic groups. Almost two-thirds of all other groups were under 35. Just 3 per cent in these ethnic groups were 65 or older, confirming the younger age profile of migrants.
Migration is traditionally dominated by those of working age and the number of children (aged 14 or under) also increased by 49.7 per cent to 78,600.
About 72 per cent of non-Irish white people are under 40, while 83 per cent of people with Chinese ethnicity are under 40.
Immigration
Inward migration by foreign nationals in the year to April 2011 was 44,374. No one country stands out as immigrants but the largest groups came from Poland, UK, France, Lithuania, Spain and the US.
The total number is significantly less than that recorded in the Census of 2006, when 93,200 had moved into Ireland in the previous year.
Why I’m proud of my brother and what he’s doing for forgotten carers
IT Sligo graduate Brendan Tonry, from Collooney, Co Sligo, is doing the ‘Dare2Care’ Challenge next month to raise awareness for child carers. Students from the Institute’s Tourism and Event Management course are helping him in the management of the event as part of their project work
A STUDENT has gone public on her life as a carer when she was just 10 years old.
Denise Tonry, 20, spoke out as her brother announced plans to raise money for children to get a ‘break’ from their chores.
The veterinary nurse student at UCD told the www. independent.ie: “When I was looking after mum it seemed normal; I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary at the time that I should be getting her up, making dinner and tidying the house.
“We were promised help but we never did get any. When social workers did visit, my mum would know in advance and would be sober for their visits to hide what was really going on.
“It is only now as an adult that I realise that being a child carer isn’t that unusual and there are tens of thousands of others who have to do it, most without any help except for the charities out there.
“I’m very proud of Brendan and what he is doing because the money he raises will help young children in a position I used to be in.”
Her brother, Army private Brendan Tonry, says that “an invisible army” of volunteers continue to be ignored by the Government.
The 30-year-old soldier was speaking at Sligo IT where he announced his part in a gruelling 10 day endurance test which he hopes will highlight the plight of young carers, while raising €10,000 towards providing supports like “pamper days” for them.
““My own sister Denise was just 10 when our father Patrick died in 2001,” said Brendan.
“My mother was heartbroken when he died and could not cope. She became very depressed and the situation was compounded by epilepsy and serious physical health issues. In her despair she turned to alcohol.”
The soldier had joined the Army and another brother moved to college. He stressed that parents, like his mother Mary who passed away in 2006, would never want to put the burden of caring on their children.
“My mother was a lovely woman who wanted the best for all of us but unfortunately through circumstances she could not control, Denise ended up in that situation” he said.
“There are still 25,000 young people in Ireland doing this every day with little or no help from the State.”
Tourism & Event Management students at IT Sligo have helped to organise the challenge which starts on April 1st next when Brendan, his brother Aaron, a Limerick-based teacher, and four friends will set out on a 550km cycle through the six counties of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon , Galway and Mayo, climbing the highest mountain in each county on the way.
“We are lucky that Truskmore is the highest mountain in both Sligo and Leitrim – so we have only five peaks to climb,” said Brendan.
The group which also includes Jarlath Monaghan, an electrician, from Coolaney, Co Sligo, Denis Flynn, from Drumfin , and Ross Barrett, from Cork , both members of the Defence Forces based at the Curragh, and James Neary, a Garda and native of Grange, Co Sligo, will camp out each night.
Rosaleen Doonan, Sligo-based area manager with the Carers Association welcomed the fundraising drive and called on the Government to “properly research” the issue.
“It can affect schooling, and indeed lead to social isolation for children if they can no longer get to football training, music lessons, or meet up with friends”, stressed Ms Doonan.
No comments:
Post a Comment