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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Medical Experts Prescribe Legislation to Help Prevent Cancer |
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CHICAGO, IL, June 15, 2009 -- /WORLD-WIRE/ -- A letter to Congressional leaders urging drastic revision of the Obama Cancer Plan to mandate prevention was released today by medical and scientific experts on the causes and prevention of cancer. The letter expressing their concern that cancer prevention has received no attention in the Obama plan is addressed to four congressional committees: the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Senate Appropriations Committee; the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and the House Appropriations Committee. The experts recommend that Congress enact legislative reforms to the 1971 National Cancer Act, including a statement that it is the national policy of the United States to reduce carcinogenic exposures by at least half during the next decade. They also urge the annual publication of a comprehensive public register of carcinogens. The scientists and doctors prescribe major policy changes for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These include the appointment of a new Deputy Director for Cancer Prevention, and the allocation of at least 40% of the NCI budget to prevention programs for Fiscal Year 2011. The text of the letter follows. Senator Edward M. Kennedy Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senator Mike Enzi Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Senator Daniel K. Inouye Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations Senator Thad Cochran Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Appropriations Representative Henry A. Waxman Chairman, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Representative Joe Barton Ranking Member, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Representative David Obey Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations Representative Jerry Lewis Ranking Member, House Committee on Appropriations Dear Senators and Representatives; President Obama has boldly pledged to reform the national health care system. Central to this, as the president has stressed, is containing the spiraling costs of health care -- costs which are soaring at about 6% each year. Most experts agree that this is not possible without a better plan to prevent Americans from getting cancer in the first place. This year, 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. Of them, 562,000 people - over 1,500 every day - will die. The cancer epidemic strikes as many as one in three Americans and takes the life of one in four. After 37 years of losing the war against cancer (a war that President Nixon originally declared in December 1971), we are taking grossly and demonstrably inadequate action to protect us from this menace. While research on the prevention and treatment of cancer is predominantly the responsibility of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), other governmental agencies are also involved. These include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, such action is uncoordinated and unbalanced. The connection between our losing the cancer war and the need to control costs through prevention is clear. Cancer is not only one of the most costly and sometimes deadly diseases in America, it is also one of the most preventable. Based on recent estimates by the National Institutes of Health, the total costs of cancer are $219 billion a year. The annual costs to taxpayers of diagnosis and treatment amount to $89 billion; the annual costs of premature death are conservatively estimated at $112 billion; and the annual costs due to lost productivity are conservatively estimated at $18 billion. And these are the quantifiable, inflationary economic costs. The human costs surely are of far greater magnitude. To be sure, smoking remains the best-known and single largest cause of cancer, particularly lung cancer. While incidence rates of lung cancer in men have declined by 20% over the past three decades, rates in women increased by 111%. But more importantly, non-smoking cancers -- due to known chemical and physical carcinogens -- have increased substantially since 1975. Some of the more startling realities in the failure to prevent cancer are illustrated by their soaring rates of increase. These include:
The Clapp report provides a wide range of evidence showing preventable cancers resulting from environmental exposures to formaldehyde, chlorinated organic pesticides, and organic solvents, among other substances. The Clapp report also cites a wealth of evidence attributing the increasing incidence of lung cancers to preventable occupational exposures to asbestos, silica, chromium VI, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, benzene, and ethylene oxide. The National Cancer Institute is the primary federal agency devoted exclusively to fighting cancer. Paradoxically, the escalating incidence of cancer over the last thirty years parallels its sharply escalating annual budget - from $690 million in 1975 to $6 billion this year. Of this a mere $131 million is allocated to NCI’s mission on Prevention and Early Detection. Furthermore, President Obama has proposed a 5% increase in funding the NCI for unspecified cancer research, with a doubling to $11.5 billion over the next eight years. However, in spite of well-documented evidence relating the escalating incidence of cancer to a wide range of avoidable carcinogenic exposures, the NCI remains "asleep at the wheel," and has stubbornly refused to devote significant resources or even attention to prevention. The NCI has also ignored proddings from Congress and independent scientific experts to develop a comprehensive registry of carcinogens. Worse still, the NCI has misled the public by claiming that most cancers are due to unhealthy behavior, "blaming the victim," despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. NCI officials still claim, for instance that 94% of all cancers are due to "unhealthy behavior" such as smoking, poor nutrition, inactivity, obesity and over exposure to sunlight – and that a mere 6% are attributable to exposures to environmental and occupational exposures. These estimates are based on those published in 1981 by the late U.K. epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll. However, from 1976 to 1999, Doll had been a closet consultant to U.K. and U.S. industries, including General Motors, Monsanto and the asbestos industry. Following revelation of these conflicts of interest, just prior to his death in 2002, Doll admitted that most cancers, other than those related to smoking and hormones, "are induced by exposure to chemicals often environmental." Furthermore, the NCI has touted the imminent success of new cancer treatments – promises that have seldom borne out, and which have been widely questioned by the independent scientific community. For instance, in 2004, Nobel Laureate Leland Hartwell, President of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Control Center, warned that Congress and the public are paying NCI $4.7 billion a year, most of which is spent on "promoting ineffective drugs" for terminal disease. As members of the independent scientific community, we welcome the Obama Administration’s goal of health care reform and prevention. But while President Obama has put forward a unique cancer plan, it focuses far too much on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, rather than on prevention. The simple truth is that the more cancer is prevented, the less there is to treat. That will also save lives and money. Congress now has an epochal opportunity to reform our health care system and prevent diseases, particularly cancer, from occurring in the first place. By taking some simple steps, Congress should enact reforms to prevent cancer. Accordingly, we recommend that Congress enact the following specific legislative reforms to the 1971 National Cancer Act:
Experts on Causes and Prevention of Cancer: Samuel S. Epstein, MD Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Nicholas A. Ashford, PhD., JD Professor of Technology and Policy Director, MIT Technology and Law Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology Richard W. Clapp, DSc, MPH Professor Environmental Health Boston University School of Public Health Quentin D. Young, MD Past President American Public Health Association Chairman, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Chicago CONTACT: Samuel S. Epstein, MD Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Tel: 312-996-2297 Email: epstein@uic.edu |
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