Aldi has joined forces with Bowel Cancer UK to help raise awareness of the disease through packs of toilet roll. The supermarket has altered all packs of its own brand toilet roll packaging to include signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, along with a QR code that customers can scan to find out more, BirminghamLive reports .
Aldi made the change in response to Bowel Cancer UK’s #GetOnARoll campaign, which calls on supermarkets across the country to put bowel cancer symptoms on their toilet roll packaging. The charity says that despite bowel cancer being the fourth most common cancer, almost half of UK adults can’t name a single symptom of the disease .
They are urging supermarkets to include them on their loo roll - “where people need to see them most” - to change the fact that fewer than 40% of people with bowel cancer are diagnosed at the earliest stages, in the hope of saving more lives.
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The change follows a campaign from Bowelbabe campaigner Dame Deborah James, who has been battling terminal bowel cancer since 2016. Deborah has also influenced loo roll giant Andrex to add symptoms of bowel cancer to their packaging as part of the campaign.
Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi, said of the change: “It’s shocking to learn that almost half of all adults in the UK cannot name a single symptom of bowel cancer. When we heard how powerful it could be to simply print the signs and symptoms on loo roll packaging – so they are there when people most need to see them - we were really keen to get involved.
“Spotting signs early is so important, so anything we can do to raise awareness of what people should look out for, and signpost them to Bowel Cancer UK to find out more, is crucial. We’re delighted to be the first retailer to announce we’re getting on board since the launch of the #GetOnARoll campaign and we’re calling on all other retailers and loo roll brands to follow suit.”
Bowel cancer symptoms:
Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
A persistent unexplained change in bowel habit
Unexplained weight loss
Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
A pain or lump in your tummy
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