Cancer: Is it Preventable?

Not a day goes by that there is not a news report suggesting that cancer is everywhere. It is in our foods, in our perfumes, in our water, in our cell phones and, according to a CTV news report from April 14th, 2010, it is even in our vitamins (http://bit.ly/aT0kkc).

 Often, the way media portrays cancer can make it seem that no matter what we do or how we live our lives cancer is unavoidable – it is a disease of lifestyle and of aging – a consequence of our standard of living.

For instance, as Canadians are living longer, over all cancer rates have been increasing.  According to Canadian Cancer Society statistics from 2009 (http://bit.ly/9sqjFC), 40% of Canadian women and 45% of Canadian men will develop cancer during their lifetime. The odds of being diagnosed with cancer increase significantly when Canadians reach the age of 55.

But is cancer really unavoidable?

Earlier this month, a comprehensive report was released by the President's Cancer Panel, which argues that there is a growing body of evidence linking cancer to the thousands of chemicals found in our daily environment. The report, called Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk (http://bit.ly/dknqlw) points out that there are nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of them have been understudied, not studied at all and are largely unregulated. From what is known, many of these chemicals have been linked to cancer.

 Although this is an American report and presents American statistics, this report should matter to Canadians because it presents a growing body of evidence linking cancer, the environment and industry. What is more concerning though, from what I can tell, there was no Canadian media coverage of this report.

There seems to be very little Canadian dialogue and resources dedicated to informing Canadians regarding the potential links between our environment, industry and cancer. More resources tend to be devoted to cancer treatment, which is understandable. Cancer affects a large proportion of Canadians and has lead to an increase in survivorship. This must not go unnoticed.

Yet, it is becoming more evident that cancer may be linked to our environment and industry. Cancer may not simply be a consequence of our standard of living and may be more preventable than we think.