A committed government can prevent many cancers

Elizabeth May and David Swann, For the Calgary Herald

Published: Sunday, June 03, 2007

Statistics Canada tells us that cancer is on the brink of becoming the
leading cause of death in Canada. Despite more than three decades in the
"war against cancer," it is clear that our existing approaches have not
been successful.

While we as politicians honour the enormous commitment of researchers
who devote their professional lives to seeking cures for cancer, we
suggest another possibility for ending the cancer epidemic in Canada
that now strikes almost half of all Canadian men, nearly 40 per cent of
women, and far too many young adults and children.

It's called primary prevention: identifying and rooting out the
underlying causes of cancer. This was the focus of a national conference
this past weekend in Ottawa called Cancer: It's About Prevention. It's
About Time! And, as politicians from different political parties, we
agree with the majority of conference delegates who attended that good
government and non-partisan co-operation can significantly relieve the
terrible burden of this disease, especially cancers related to
occupational and environmental hazards.

Yes, smoking is a major cause of several cancers, which is why higher
taxes on tobacco are a must. This strategy does work: smoking rates in
Canada dropped an average 2.08 per cent per year when tobacco taxes were
increasing, according to the Non-Smokers Rights Association.

Good diet is another factor in preventing cancer, and it's crucial for
governments to ensure that fresh, organic (pesticide-free) foods are
affordable for everyone, especially the most vulnerable Canadians -
infants and children, pregnant women, poor and elderly people, and
aboriginals, whose traditional foods are contaminated with higher levels
toxic substances than most. Can organic farming feed the world? The
answer is a solid yes, according to a 2006 Worldwatch Institute survey
of 200 organic farming studies.

But we must go much farther than personal 'lifestyle' factors to prevent
cancer. We need to eliminate or severely restrict hundreds of substances
that increase cancer risk and cause other serious health problems. Since
the chemical and nuclear 'revolutions' of the 1950s, we have all been
the subjects of an uncontrolled experiment in which we're exposed to
toxic substances throughout life -- starting at the moment of
conception.

It is nearly impossible to assess the cause and effect of these hazards,
given low doses and multiple interactions over time.

There are plenty of clues, however. Earlier in May, Cancer, the official
journal of the American Cancer Society, published a study identifying
216 chemicals that can induce breast cancer in animals. Of these, humans
are highly exposed to 97, including industrial solvents, pesticides,
dyes, gasoline and diesel exhaust compounds, cosmetics ingredients,
hormones, pharmaceuticals and radiation. The most recent issue of
Reproductive Toxicology reports growing evidence that prenatal exposures
impact adult-onset diseases, including cancer, heart disease and
Parkinson's.

We enthusiastically applaud the recent all-party agreement on several
key recommendations to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act,
including improving protection of children's health and making companies
responsible for the safety of their chemicals. This is the sort of
non-partisan cooperation we need to put the precautionary principle into
action to stem the tide of cancer in this country.

Canada must learn from best practices in reducing exposure to
cancer-causing substances from jurisdictions around the world.
California's Proposition 65 is a good example: it requires labelling to
keep substances causing cancer and birth defects out of consumer
products and public water supplies. Ontario's current Bill 164 is a
similar 'community right to know' initiative, well worth unanimous
support, and so would a federal law requiring labelling of known and
suspected carcinogens in all consumer products, including pesticides.

There is also an urgent need to address higher cancer risks faced by
workers in dozens of toxic occupations. Many workplaces lack adequate
baseline health assessments and surveillance practices to monitor
exposures over time. All provinces need to follow British Columbia's
lead requiring regulations for 'substitution' -- replacing hazardous
workplace substances with least toxic alternatives -- in their health
and safety legislation.

Canada also needs a Toxics Use Reduction Act, similar to the law in
Massachusetts, which mandates research on safer alternatives and
pollution prevention plans for large industries.

A key feature of the new REACH (Registration, Evaluation and
Authorization of Chemicals) legislation in the European Union puts the
onus on industry to ensure the safety of their products.

These and other good prevention initiatives are already in place in many
jurisdictions around the world. Implementing them in Canada won't
guarantee our high cancer rates will drop overnight. It took decades of
showering our world with man-made chemical and radioactive substances to
fuel the rise in cancer rates to their present intolerable levels.

We believe Canadians of all political stripes support bold action to
prevent cancer, and politicians of all political stripes must take
courageous action to stop cancer now.

Elizabeth May is leader of the Green Party of Canada.

Dr. David Swann, MD, is the Liberal MLA representing the constituency of
Calgary-Mountain View. Both are honorary advisers to the national
non-profit organization, Prevent Cancer Now (www.preventcancernow.ca).
The Calgary Herald 2007