Women who dislike facial hair will not be pleased this month as men all over Finland grow moustaches to raise money for a cancer charity. Whether it be the handlebars, trucker, Dali or Einstein they are sporting across their top lips, if you see a man with an elaborate moustache, they are probably participating in “Movember”.
This is the second time the international campaign, which combines the name of the eleventh month with the word “mo” – a common slang term for moustache – is being held in Finland. Men who take part will be urging their friends and family to fund their fuzz, with all the money raised going to the Finnish Cancer Foundation for prostate cancer research.
The Movember movement originally started in Australia where more than 100,000 people take part in the event every year. The project was first introduced to Finland by Jarno Salmivuori – a Finn who used to live in Australia. He says Movember is the male equivalent of the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second biggest cause of cancer-related death among men in Finland. Last year, around 600 Finns let their whiskers go wild, raising nearly EUR 20,000 for the fund.
With public figures such as the Minister of Social Affairs and Health Juha Rehula and entertainer Jope Ruonasuu taking part this year, organisers hope the amount of moustaches seen in the streets of Finland will increase five-fold.
“Only about one in 10 prostate cancers detected by screening actually poses a threat to a man’s life, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers from the University if Cambridge”.
“A common prostate cancer treatment may significantly increase men’s risk of heart problems, according to a study conducted by researchers from King’s College London and presented at a joint meeting of the European Cancer Organization and the European Society for Medical Oncology in Berlin”.
“If none of the men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer were ever treated, 97 percent of them would still survive the disease, according to a study conducted by Swedish researchers and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute”.
“As many as 50 percent of all prostate cancer diagnoses may be cases of over-diagnosis, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal”.
Funny how these cancer fear marketers never tell the whole story..