The Obama Cancer Plan Should Prioritize Prevention, According to the Cancer Prevention Coalition

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WHOOOPPEEEEEE!!!!!! PREVENTION!!! thats means they are going to have to

start admitting things that cause Cancer!!!

PRESS RELEASE

The Obama Cancer Plan Should Prioritize Prevention, According to the Cancer

Prevention Coalition

Last update: 9:00 a.m. EST Jan. 23, 2009

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CHICAGO, Jan 23, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- According to the Cancer Prevention

Coalition, President Barack Obama is the first new President to develop a

comprehensive cancer plan.

While the plan reflects strong emphasis on oncology, disturbingly no reference

is made to prevention, and the wide range of avoidable causes of cancer.

The plan defines and coordinates the responsibilities of four federal agencies:

the National Cancer Institute (NCI), for research and clinical trials; the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for epidemiological follow up and

support of cancer survivors; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, for

funding cancer related care; and the FDA, for regulating cancer drugs.

In 1971, Congress passed the National Cancer Act which authorized the National

Cancer Program, calling for " an expanded and intensified research program for

the prevention of cancer caused by occupational or environmental exposures to

carcinogens. " Shortly afterwards, President Nixon announced his " War

Against Cancer, " and authorized a $200 million budget for the NCI. Since then,

its budget has escalated by nearly 30-fold, to $5.3 billion this year.

Meanwhile, the incidence of a wide range of cancers, other than those due to

smoking, has escalated sharply from 1975 to 2005, when the latest NCI statistics

were published. These include malignant melanoma (172%), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

(79%), thyroid (116%), testis (60%), and childhood cancers (38%).

As widely reported in the November 26, 2008, press, the NCI claimed that the

incidence of new cancers has been falling from 1999 to 2005. However, this is

contrary to its latest statistics. These show increases of 45% for thyroid

cancer, 18% for malignant melanoma, 18% for kidney cancer, 10% for childhood

cancers, and 4% for testes cancer.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition states, " Disturbingly, the NCI has still failed

to develop, let alone publicize, any listing or registry of avoidable exposures

to a wide range of carcinogens. These include: some pharmaceuticals; high dose

diagnostic radiation; occupational; environmental; and ingredients in consumer

products--food, household products, and cosmetics and personal care products.

The NCI has also failed to respond, other than misleadingly or dismissively, to

prior Congressional requests for such information. "

In March 1998, in a series of questions to then NCI Director Dr.

Klausner, Congressman Obey requested information on NCI's policies and

priorities. He asked " Should the NCI develop a registry of avoidable carcinogens

and make this information widely available to the public? " The answer was, and

remains, no. Klausner's responses made it clear that NCI persisted in

indifference to cancer prevention, coupled with imbalanced emphasis on damage

control--screening, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical trials.

Moreover, NCI's claims for the success of " innovative treatment " have been

sharply criticized by distinguished oncologists. In 2004, Nobelist Leland

Hartwell, President of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Control Center, warned that

" Congress and the public are not paying NCI $4.7 billion a year, " most of which

is spent on " promoting ineffective drugs " for terminal disease.

It should be further emphasized that the costs of new biotech cancer drugs have

increased more than 100-fold over the last decade. Furthermore, according to the

Cancer Prevention Coalition, the U.S. spends five times more than the U.K. on

chemotherapy per patient, although their survival rates are similar.

The Obama Cancer Plan is subject to Congressional authorization, and funding

approval by Congressman Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations

Committee, and Senator Byrd, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations

Committee. These committees are now in a position to require that major priority

should be directed to cancer prevention rather than just to oncology. Clearly,

the more cancer is prevented, the less there is to treat. As importantly, this

will also be of major help in achieving President Obama's goal " to lower health

care costs. "

As cancer prevention scientists and advocates, we strongly welcome the new

Administration with joy and hope.

This Release is endorsed by the following leading experts and

advocates in cancer prevention.

A. Ashford, PhD, JD

Professor of Technology and Policy

Director, MIT Technology and Law Program

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, Massachusetts

lie Bertell, PhD

International Association for Humanitarian Medicine

International Science Oversight Committee for the Organic Consumers

Association

Yardley, Pennsylvania

Brophy, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Board of Directors, Toxic Free Canada

University of Windsor

Ontario, Canada

Clapp, D.Sc., MPH

Professor

Boston University School of Public Health

Boston, Massachusetts

Connett, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Environmental Chemistry,

St. Lawrence University

Canton, New York;

Executive Director

Fluoride Action Network

Canton, New York

Ronnie Cummins

National Director

Organic Consumers Association

Finland, Minnesota

Tracey Easthope, MPH

Director, Environmental Health Project

Ecology Center

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD

Professor

Department of Oncology

University Hospital

Orebro, Sweden

Hazel , D.Sc.Hon., FRSA, author, futurist

President, Ethical Markets Media, LLC;

Co-Creator, the Calvert Group of the Calvert- Quality of

Life Indicators

Margaret , PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Board of Directors Toxic Free Canada

University of Windsor

Ontario, Canada

ph Mangano, MPH, MBA

Executive Director

Radiation and Public Health Project

New York, New York

R. Mellow, MD, MS

Wood Family Medicine Fellow

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine

Portland, Maine

Vicente Navarro, MD, PhD

Professor of Health Policy

The s Hopkins Medical Institutions

Baltimore, land

Orris, MD, MPH, FACP, FACOEM

Professor and Chief of Service

Environmental and Occupational Medicine

University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center;

Professor, Internal and Preventive Medicine

Rush University College of Medicine;

Professor, Preventive Medicine

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Chicago, Illinois

Lawrence A. Plumlee, MD

President, Chemical Sensitivity Disorders Association

Bethesda, land

Horst Rechelbacher

President, Intelligent Nutrients

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Janette D. Sherman, MD

Adjunct Professor Environmental Institute

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Eileen M. , MD, ABIHM

Great Smokies Medical Center

Asheville, North Carolina

Daphne Wysham

Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies

Washington, District of Columbia

Quentin D. Young, MD

Chairman, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group

Chicago, Illinois

SOURCE: Cancer Prevention Coalition

Cancer Prevention Coalition

S. Epstein, MD

Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine

University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health,

Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition

2121 West Street, MC 922

Chicago, IL 60612

e-mail epstein@...

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