Progress Lagging Against Many Cancers

While Overall Cancer Rate In U.S. Is Down 8%, Some Cancers Show No Drop At All

(CBS)  More than a decade ago the American Cancer Society set a goal of cutting the cancer rate by 25% by the year 2015. A new report published by the Society analyzes data from 1982 through 2004, the mid-point of the campaign.

Between 1992 and 2004, the overall cancer rate in this country fell by eight percent, but that represents both good and bad news, according to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a cancer specialist and head of the Department of Clinical Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health.

"The good news is it did fall by 8%, and that's an important decline," he told Saturday Early Show anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "The bad news part of the story is that the American Cancer Society had this goal of 25% decline over 25 years, and it looks like we're going to be shy of that because it's not declining fast enough."

Can that goal be reached if we continue at this rate?

Emanuel: "No. If we continue at this rate we certainly won't reach it. Even if we speed up a little bit, we're unlikely to reach it. So we're not going to make that goal. But the American Cancer Society set a pretty aggressive goal - a quarter decline in all of cancers."

The greatest declines that were found were among men and people over the age of 65. Why do you think that is?

Emanuel: "Most of this is the decline in smoking. Between 1965, roughly, and today, we've had a more than 50% decline in smoking. This country really has changed its attitude toward smoking, and now only 1 in 5 Americans smoke. That has had a big effect on lung cancer, cancer of the mouth and pharynx, and in other cancers. So that's the big, big factor here. There are some other changes in lifestyle and pick up of screening that has had an impact."

Speaking of screening, we've also seen a reduction in the cases of breast and colorectal cancer. There are such aggressive campaigns for early testing. Has that played a role?

Emanuel: "Absolutely true. Breast is a little complicated because we've had mammography and women have used mammography, although that has stabilized - about 3 out of every 4 women have used mammography, but still a quarter who seem not to get the screening test. Also, the stopping of using of hormones after menopause seems to have had a big impact on decreasing breast cancer.

"On the colon cancer side, the upside is screening. Katie Couric went on TV and did a cancer screening and that had a big impact on the people in this country, and now more than half of people are getting screened and that's also probably a very big impact on colon cancer.

"I have a friend at one of the cancer centers who said no one should die of colon cancer because we can see it and take out all the early precancerous lesions. People just really need to be screened for that."

Interesting, too, that some cancers are going down, others are not. For example, with brain, pancreatic, uterine and leukemia, there are no changes.

Emanuel: "It shows you we need a lot more thinking and research about those. Brain cancer, we don't have a good idea as to what causes brain cancer. It's a tragic cancer because it affects people in the prime of life - 50, 55 or 60. Uterine cancer, that's a cancer probably a result of the increase in obesity in this country; fat cells produce more hormones that stimulate the uterus. And the story on pancreas is also a little complicated because smoking causes paneas cancer, and one would have thought that the decrease in smoking would have led to a decline in pancreas, but there may be other factors we don't fully understand."

Dr. Emanuel's Five Recommendations For Reducing Cancer Risks:

1. Seek Medical Prevention
2. Exercise
3. Eat Fruits & Veggies
4. Stay Out of the Sun
5. Don't Smoke

The report appears in the November/December issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

[omega39-2009]

If we spent on research what we spent on war.....of course, the arms makers would suffer and big pharma wouldn''t be able to make a killing on chemotherapy.

[joeybuck2]

Sunshine is one of the best inoculations against cancer, but the good doctor recommends against it. Makes you wonder if the Cancer Society really wants cancer to go away.

[drinuk]

I challenge the FDA to make public the full and honest independent report which states that the Apricot Kernel (B-17) is a danger to the recipient if taken against Cancer.

Why have you banned vitamin B-17 ? Who told you it was dangerous ? AND Who told you it did work against cancer.

Big Pharma know it works but it costs a few dollars and cannot be patented, there ''aint no cash in it !

FDA....You are a crooked bunch of B A S T A R D S.

[drinuk]

There will be no significant improvement in the fight against cancer until people understand that Big Pharma have cruelly turned it into a very profitable Industry.
There is not profit in a cure, however, comfort and dependency means Big Bucks. They, along with the FDA and many politicians are committing genocide worlwide. They ban any natural medicines which work simply because they cannot obtain patents on them and they hound genuine people with crooked officialdom who attempt to find alternatives.

This evil cartel are the real terrorists of our time, ably abetted by politicians and government. This year alone Big Pharma spent eight ( 8 ) billion dollars buying Washington. They are all the scum of the world we live in today.

[tmn]

Under Bush, the US budget for cancer research is going DOWN rather than up! Imagine taking the hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars being wasted in Iraq and spending those funds on cancer reasearch here at home? Just think of the progress that could be made towards this horrible disease that kills so many...

leicester6 you are so right. The sodium nitrates and MSG and trans fat do more harm than smoking and alcohol combine. Why are we the only country in the world that puts the poison fluoride in our water supply? Why are we the only country that uses chemotherapy to fight cancer? Maybe cause chemo is very profitable $150,000 and up. These modern day carpetbaggers have price themselves into the stratosphere. Socialize medicine is the answer, not a health care program run by private industry. It makes no sense to put radiation in a body because radiation causes cancer. Except for broken bones, hip, knee, elbow, etc replacement, I have no need for modern medicine. Cholesterol is the biggest scam and most profitable scam for Big Pharma. The so called health industry needs a massive overall that must begin and end in Congress.

[leicester6]

I firmly believe that many cancers are caused by chemicals or preservatives in our foods. This country eats way too much processed food. Also, some chemicals and hormones are in our foods and we don''t know it. Take for example chicken: unless you are positive of no chemicals or hormones, we are consuming more chicken than ever and that''s one of the reasons why. Chicken is considered a healthy food--less fat and more protein, but is pumped up with chemicals and salt, so the healthy aspects of the chicken is diminished and becomes a killer over many, many years of consumption. We need to read labels on EVERYTHING.

[godofredo29]

And, penile and anal cancer? There''s two that we could be curbing if the FDA would begin promoting the HPV vaccine for men. (However, some of us aren''t waiting and are getting it "off label" and out of pocket.)

[ssm9451]

What about the killer cancer, MELANOMA.

[hypnotoad72]

Ezekiel 23:20 - now there''s a wholesome Biblical verse. Well, not quite wholesome, didn''t the dude''s parents read the Bible? Still, that particular passage does pertain to *cough* biology, so maybe they had read it after all...

Also, denn034, it''s also darkest before the storm. This, of course, goes back to the glass being half-full or half-empty, if you''re an optimist or pessimist. As for me, the glass isn''t big enough and the umbrella keeps me dry. :D

Back to the actual article and no more cheap comic relief, everybody knows there is no profit in a cure. For other diseases, especially more readily preventable ones (see "HIV") they can treat all they want. But cancer isn''t quite the same thing. There deserves to be a proper cure for cancer.

[denn034]

It''s always darkest before the dawn. Hang in there. Perseverence will win the day in the end.

[dsproull]

This is a joke! The word cancer is a big MONEY maker! Cancer in the human body can''t find a cure? WHY!!!!! Thay have dissected, trisected, and still don''t know? This is a billion dollar a year business, period. They have been looking for 60 years for this cure???? HELLO!!!!!