World Cancer Research Fund urges action to stop preventable cancers

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDSep 8 2011

World Cancer Research Fund urged action to stop preventable cancers. They suggest deeper focus on curbing smoking, improving diets, reducing alcohol use.

According to the WCRF this Wednesday healthier lifestyles and better diets could prevent up to 2.8 million cases of cancer each year. The WCRF called upon governments to “avoid a public health disaster”.

The number of global cancers has increased by a fifth in less than a decade to around 12 million new cases a year, and along with other chronic diseases like heart and lung disease and diabetes are the world's biggest health challenges, the Fund said.

In a report released two weeks before a United Nations summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the charity said political leaders had a “once in a generation” opportunity to tackle a wave of cancer and other lifestyle diseases.

Global health experts say many deaths from NCDs, including around a third of all common cancers, could be prevented by curbing excessive alcohol intake, improving diets, discouraging smoking and promoting more physical activity.

But these measures often need government action such as taxation, regulation and advertising curbs, bringing politicians into conflict with tobacco, food and alcohol industries. “With millions of lives at risk around the world, the stakes are incredibly high,” said Martin Wiseman, WCRF's medical and scientific adviser. “People are still unaware that risk factors such as alcohol and obesity affect cancer risk, while at the same time, from television advertising to the pricing of food, our society works in a way that discourages people from adopting healthy habits.”

Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases kill 36 million people a year, according to the U.N.'s Geneva-based health agency, the World Health Organization. Over the next 20 years, this epidemic is projected to accelerate and that by 2030, the number of deaths from NCDs could reach 52 million a year.

The WCRF said around seven million of the 12 million cancer cases diagnosed each year are in developing countries and that figure is also predicted to rise dramatically. This is more than four times the annual number of new HIV infections, and 2.8 million of these cancers are linked to poor diet, a lack of exercise and being overweight. “Unless we act now..the charity appeals of the future will not be just for disasters and famines, but to pay for cancer care,” Kate Allen, the fund's director of science and communications, told reporters at the briefing.

The U.N. meeting, slated for Sept. 19 and 20 in New York, is only the second ever such high-level meeting to be convened on a threat to global health - the first, a decade ago, was dedicated to fighting HIV and AIDS. But there are already fears the summit could be ineffective, with major rich-world players such as the United States, Europe and Japan reluctant to commit to taxes, regulations and targets for reducing the burden of these diseases.

“The real problem is not coming up with new solutions, the real problem is having the will to implement what we already know,” said Wiseman.

Earlier this year, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley offered reassurance to junk food manufacturers, saying he wanted to avoid “intrusive, restrictive and costly regulation”. The Government has been criticized for cutting spending on the Change4Life health campaign in favor of getting commercial companies and charities to fill the gap.

Cadbury, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Kraft, Mars, Nestle and PepsiCo have all been involved, alongside Britvic and supermarket giant Tesco. Some of the companies have reformulated foods so they contain less sugar, saturated fat or salt.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said, “This week's responsibility deal calorie labeling announcement shows real progress that can be achieved by working with industry voluntarily to help improve public health, creating an environment that supports people to make informed, balanced choices about their health.”