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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE UNITED NATIONS TAKES THE INITIATIVE IN THE WAR AGAINST CANCER

CHICAGO, IL, April 2, 2007 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- This week, after notables such as Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow, have shared the bad news with the nation that their cancers have returned, we are deluged with a series of editorials in last Sunday's New York Times. These emphasize early screening, the latest promise of new treatment modalities, and the latest promise of new genetic research. However, not once in any of these editorials or other news items is the word prevention even mentioned.

Rather than winning the cancer war, we have been losing it progressively since President Richard Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971. Today, cancer strikes nearly 1.3 million people annually. Nearly one in two men and more than one in three women develop cancer in their lifetimes. This translates into approximately 56 percent more cancer in men and 22 percent more cancer in women over the course of just one generation.

Since 1971, and with some $50 billion taxpayers funding of the National Cancer Institute, the incidence of a wide range of cancers unrelated to smoking has escalated to near epidemic proportions. These include: thyroid cancer by over 80%; childhood leukemia by 70%; non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by 70%; and testes cancer by 50%.

More disturbingly, there is long-standing, well-documented epidemiological evidence on the avoidable causes of these cancers, notably environmental and occupational carcinogens. There is also well documented evidence on carcinogenic ingredients and contaminants in common consumer products—food, cosmetics and personal care products, and household products.

However, this evidence is ignored or trivialized by the National Cancer Institute in lock step with the world's largest charity, the American Cancer Society. This charity has been characterized by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the nation's leading charity watchdog, as "more interested in accumulating wealth than saving lives."

Responding to these critical concerns, the United Nations has just announced a critical initiative on "Meeting the Global Challenge of Cancer." This has been created in response to the World Health Organization's warning that "We are now on the brink of an international cancer epidemic, with cancer now representing far more deaths than HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined."

The United Nations has recently invited Dr. Samuel S. Epstein and Dr. Nicholas Ashford to take a lead role in launching its Stop Cancer initiative, and on how to win the losing cancer war, an invitation we have readily accepted.

Rather than "Who's Winning Now," we will work with the U.N. to document the scientific evidence on the avoidable causes of the modern cancer epidemic. We will also emphasize the overdue critical need for judicious regulation and enforcement of health, safety and environmental laws. These are focused on the phase out, and ultimate elimination of avoidable exposures to carcinogens in the totality of the U.S. and international environments.

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. His 3/23/07 report to the United Nations on "How to Win the Losing Cancer War" is posted on the Cancer Prevention Coalition website, www.preventcancer.com. Phone 312.996.2297; epstein@uic.edu

Nicholas A. Ashford, PhD, JD is professor of Technology and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, former Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, and former member of the EPA Science Advisory Board and EPA National Advisory Committee on Environmental Policy & Technology.

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