Kiss Jars is the first initiative launched by KISS that we have chosen to associate with the hashtag #washcancerout. We have created a small glass jar that contains an olive oil soap bar dipped in clippings of scientific journals to enclose all the topics dear to our association:
- improve your lifestyle
- protect the environment
- support research
All with the aim of FIGHT AGAINST CANCER.
In the next few lines, we will better explain what is behind the first Kiss Jars.
Why did we choose “soap”?
In general, soap is prepared by combining animal or vegetable fats with alkaline substances, producing a reaction called saponification.
Our soap is based on olive oil. To produce it, we have chosen a company that produces cosmetics with natural ingredients and that does not use toxic or harmful substances for the environment.
We chose to put soap in our jars because hand washing is a very important gesture in our daily life!
The hands are the main way of transmitting germs. 80% of the most common infections spread through the hands. Hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent respiratory infections and diarrhea. Did you know that the simple act of washing your hands with soap saves about 230,000 lives every year?
In the health field, the World Health Organization has promoted a global challenge for patient safety in recent years and recommends that all doctors and health professionals wash their hands especially on 5 occasions:
- before touching each patient
- before any cleaning or sterilization procedure
- after exposure or contact with body fluids
- after touching a patient
- after any contact with the hospital environment.
Below we give you some tips for adequate hand hygiene at home, with children and in the hospital:
- Better to have short nails! They can be cleaned more easily. A lot of dirt settles under the nails!
- Avoid the use of enamel, when it is damaged it promotes the growth of microorganisms.
- Avoid wearing wrist watches, rings, bracelets, these can hinder thorough washing!
- Wash your hands at around 37 ° C.
- Always dry yourself with dry towels
- Dry yourself well!
- Care your hands using protective creams to moisturize the skin
Why “olive oil” soap?
Why did we choose olive oil as the main ingredient of our soap? Obvious! Because it is an exceptional product! It is the cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet and for centuries our ancestors have understood how important this element was to use in everyday life.
It has an extraordinary nutritional value: extra virgin olive oil contains vitamins, antioxidants, phytosterols and monounsaturated fatty acids.
Monounsaturated fatty acids prevent cardiovascular disorders, among the various monounsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid is essential in regulating blood cholesterol levels.
It has also recently been shown that squalene, a substance that abounds in olive oil, will be effective in fighting skin cancers.
An Italian researcher carefully studied the benefits of olive oil and thanks to his research he received an award from AIRC. He has shown that oleic acid, in addition to regulating cholesterol levels in the blood, also regulates cell proliferation and through complex regulation mechanisms reduces the formation of colon tumors.
One last clarification: the olive oil we have chosen is not of first quality, this is because the first quality oil must be used for food purposes. The soap oil is an olive oil obtained from waste and this is in line with the goal of protecting the environment!
Why are the soaps immersed in newspaper clippings?
We needed the paper to protect the soaps and deliver them intact to our supporters. We therefore chose to use recycled paper, because the commitment to protect the environment is one of the objectives of KISS.
Warning: this is not just any card! The clippings come from important scientific journals in which the most important news on oncology research are presented.
Reading scientific journals is a fundamental element in the daily clinical practice of every oncologist. A good researcher never loses curiosity and continually updates himself by reading the results obtained by his colleagues. This is to look for when it is possible to transfer the latest news from the paper to the clinic and to have new stimuli and ideas for future research.
Reading scientific news also allows researchers to be able to answer questions from patients who learn the latest cancer news from television or the internet. Very often, in fact, these means of communication present unclear and inaccurate messages that the doctor has the task of explaining and contextualising to his patients.
Why did we choose the glass jar?
In recent years we have learned that it is necessary to pay attention to safeguarding the environment in which we live. It is now known to all that the surface temperature of the planet is constantly increasing and part of this warming is due to the activities we carry out every day.
The warming of the earth would cause changes in the distribution and quantity of rainfall, an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes, floods, extinction of plant and animal species both on land and on the sea.
Surely, the choices made by governments can have an important impact on global warming, but the actions of individuals can also contribute!
The use of non-polluted and recyclable materials represents one of the first possible steps.
Glass is a material produced with non-polluting substances – it is obtained by a process of melting at high temperatures of sand, soda and limestone – and can be easily reused and recycled many times.
What is the offer you will give for?
In this first phase of activity, we decided to turn our attention to oncology in developing countries. In recent years, if on the one hand infectious diseases have been more adequately addressed and treated, on the other hand in these countries the risk of developing the diseases once considered an exclusive problem of industrialized countries has increased, among which the neoplasms.
Unfortunately, in developing countries, due to the lack of human resources and the workforce, the inadequate education and training of staff, the lack of dedicated infrastructure and recognized quality standards, access to cancer care is a privilege restricted to a limited group of people and the treatments offered are of limited efficacy and different from those commonly used in Europe and the United States.
Kiss’s goal will be to fund two scholarships for a doctor and a doctor residing in Kenya to spend a period of training in an Italian oncology.
In this period they will have the opportunity to learn simple laboratory techniques and basic oncological knowledge that they can apply when returning to their country to improve access and quality of oncological treatments.
The minimum offer that we ask for each jar is 3 euros. But you can also give many more.
If you think you can help us, let us know how many jars you could distribute among your acquaintances or in your business or on the occasion of an event you are organizing. Contact us without any problems, you will know the Kiss team and you too can start supporting the FIGHT against CANCER!
