As I look back over the past year, I have to single out an announcement by the Canadian Cancer Society as one that excited me. In November the society announced it was starting to raise funds for a massively expanded cancer prevention centre at 10th and Ash in Vancouver.
As someone who, like so many of us, has lost close relatives to cancer, I too dream of the day we find a “cure for cancer,” and applaud all the advances in research and treatment for people suffering from this terrible disease.
But I have never forgotten a breast cancer fundraising breakfast I once attended, where everyone was being whipped into a frenzy of donating by aspirational speeches about finding a cure.
Then B.C.’s leading researcher took the stage. She pointed out that there already was a cure for half the cancers in the world. It’s the elephant in the cancer ward. It’s called prevention. It costs so much less than better detection and treatment, and it really works.
Maybe because prevention can’t begin to match the emotional impact of treating a loved one in pain and trauma, we spend a mere 2% of cancer research funding on prevention.
Now that’s going to, finally, change.
Not that it will be easy. As we learned with curbing smoking (the cause of 85% of lung cancer deaths, 30% of all cancer deaths and a risk factor in 14 types of cancer), it can take years of lobbying, public campaigning, legislative changes and new regulations to make an impact. But it can be done. It’s still being done. The Canadian Cancer Society now wants tobacco companies to remove all colours, logos and designs on cigarette packages, leaving only health warnings. We know that causes people to smoke less.
The same kind of research, the kind that will be done at the new centre, has identified the leading preventable causes of cancer (beyond age and genetics). It’s sad but timely to note how much they are intrinsically woven into our holiday eating and drinking celebrations.
Overeating (yummy turkey! stuffing! Christmas pudding!) leading to excessive weight gain increases the risk of getting seven types of cancer. Sitting around too long watching TV (or at the office) makes cancer more likely.
Eating too much fat and sugar (shortbread cookies! eggnog!) leads to cancer. Holding the line at two drinks a day prevents cancer.
Barbara Kaminsky, CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society B.C. and Yukon Division, told the Vancouver Sun that being overweight, having a poor diet and sitting around too much is as dangerous to your health as smoking.
Heading south for the holidays? Staying out of the sun prevents cancer. Dr. Carolyn Gotay is the chair in cancer prevention at UBC’s faculty of medicine, whose work will be expanded into the new centre. When I asked her for one thing we could do today that would have a big impact she said: “Make sure young people don’t use tanning beds. That could result in many fewer melanomas, the deadliest form of skin cancer. There’s no such thing as a good tan.”
She’s also working with helping night-shift workers sleep better, knowing that exposure to light at night is now known to be directly related to breast cancer.
Research shows men respond to contests, so prevention agencies are setting up worksite teams to get men charged up to win pedometer competitions.
Preventing cancer spills over into reducing the soaring health care costs that are sapping our economy.
Not just cancer, but 70% of all chronic illnesses, including heart disease, strokes and chronic lung disease, are potentially preventable by regular exercise, quitting smoking and junking junk food from our diets.
Next week I’ll look at the direct relationship between public health and transit, and how an investment in transit will prevent chronic diseases and reduce public health costs.
Peter Ladner ([email protected]) is a co-founder of Business in Vancouver. He is a former Vancouver city councillor and former fellow at the SFU Centre for Dialogue. He is the author of The Urban Food Revolution.
