New ACS Report Show Cancer Progress at Risk

The American Cancer Society (ACS) issued a new report showing that the last two years of progress against cancer could be at risk. Over the last two years we have seen huge leaps in the fight against cancer, among those an HPV (Human Papallova Virus) vaccine, a new drug (Tykerb) for breast cancer patients and new relationship being formed with Congress for new laws surrounding cancer prevention and awareness.

Disturbing trends in cancer prevention and early detection efforts are proving fruitless among the public, while researchers are constantly striving towards better treatments. It seems that this imbalance may soon thwart efforts for real progress, if not turned around.

ACS ' new report shows a particular concern with tobacco control and cancer screening, according to Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Facts & Figures 2007 (CPED), the annual ACS report that examines the factors that influence cancer cases and deaths. This report can be accessed on the American Cancer Society's webpage under Cancer Facts and Figures. The other serious problem they found was the ever-expanding waistlines of both youth and adults.

"Much of the suffering and death from cancer could be prevented by more systematic efforts to reduce tobacco use, improve diet, increase activity levels, and expand the use of established screening tests," says John R. Seffrin, PhD, national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. "But this report shows we may be losing momentum in some key areas that have been critical to our success."

One of the more concerning issues is that more funding is needed to continue the awareness campaigns that alert the public to the way that they can prevention the disease through lifestyle choices. ACS is pressing Congress for more funds for their National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which is run by the US CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Though this program helps more than 400,000 low-income and uninsured women get the needed PAP tests and mammograms, they are only 13% of those eligible for the life-saving program.

The low screening rates for colorectal cancer is a special concern because unlike screenings for many other cancers, colorectal cancer screenings can find colon growths (polyps) before they ever become cancerous preventing the disease entirely.

The ever-growing obesity rate among adults is a concern as two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, not to mention only a fraction of us get the exercise we need to help keep off excess weight.

It is incredibly important to put a stop to this trend as one-third of US cancer deaths are related to excess weight, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. Being overweight is clearly linked with many cancers, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus and kidney.

The report states that community efforts are now needed to build a more conducive environment for good food and exercise choices. We must call for more limits on junk food in schools and encourage more nutritional information in restaurants. We need strong physical education requirements and for many school districts, physical education requirements need to be established as this area has been cut due to funding problems.

The last issue the report covers is tobacco control, which seems to have stalled during the past two years. Tobacco use is expected to cause some 168,000 deaths this year alone and is the single largest preventable cause of death in the United States.

The ACS report states, "Reducing tobacco use among adults and children is a top priority in the fight against cancer. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, larynx, mouth and throat, esophagus and bladder, and contributes to several other types of cancer".

Though smoking rates among both youth and adults began dropping in 1997, that decline has stalled. There was no significant change in the smoking rates of high school students between 2003 and 2005.

What we are looking at is an epidemic of a nation that doesn't take care of itself properly. With a disease as scary as cancer we should be doing more to help ourselves in the way of prevention. Our communities need more bike paths, walking trails, parks, sidewalks and as many other ideas as it takes to get us more active.

But, during those active periods and outside activities we need to always be thinking about the sun. Sunscreen should be applied under makeup and be worn at all time, even on cloudy days. It should also be reapplied every four hours and if you are swimming or sweating a lot, more often than that.