<P> Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), also referred to in America as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure . The campaign also offers information and support to those affected by breast cancer . </P> <P> Breast cancer awareness month is a yearly campaign that intend educate people about the importance of early screening, test and more . This campaign starts on October 1st and ends on October 31st every year . </P> <P> NBCAM was founded in 1985 in October as a partnership between the American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries (now part of AstraZeneca, producer of several anti-breast cancer drugs). The aim of the NBCAM from the start has been to promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer . </P> <P> In 1993 Evelyn Lauder, Senior Corporate Vice President of the Estée Lauder Companies, founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and established the pink ribbon as its symbol, though this was not the first time the ribbon was used to symbolize breast cancer: a 68 - year - old California woman named Charlotte Haley, whose sister, daughter, and granddaughter had breast cancer, had distributed peach - color ribbons to call attention to what she perceived as inadequate funding for research . In the fall of 1991, the Susan G. Komen Foundation had handed out pink ribbons to participants in its New York City race for breast cancer survivors . </P>

When was october declared breast cancer awareness month