Cancer Society - Real Issues

The Irish Cancer Society's head of research has warned that cancer patients, their families and their friends are vulnerable to myths and alternative therapies for cancer, that can do more harm than good.

Dr Robert O'Connor said the most common issue was a fear of modern life and that appliances, chemicals and additives were causing the disease.



None of these, he said, had any proven link to cancer risk.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr O'Connor said that the amount of information is overwhelming and while some of it can come from well-meaning sources, some of it is manipulative.
He advised people to check information with their GP and organisations such as the Irish Cancer Society.

He added that medicine does not always have a silver bullet for every disease.
When asked about the Irish Cancer Society's controversial ‘I want to get cancer’ advertising campaign, Dr O'Connor said it had had a big impact and helped people understand the various issues around cancer.
In addition, he said there had been an increase in calls to the helpline.
Dr O'Connor said that cancer services are "hanging on by their fingernails" and need to be funded properly.

Costs of Cigarettes!

The Irish Cancer Society has urged the Government to follow Australia’s lead and increase the cost of smoking after the southern nation announced plans to raise the price of a packet of cigarettes to AU$40 (€28.50) by 2020.

Marking World Cancer Day, the society highlighted that one in four cancer deaths in Ireland are caused by smoking, and said Ireland should follow Australia and make a bold pledge on pricing.
It said tobacco taxes are one of the most effective ways of cutting the number of people who smoke.
Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society said: "We need to send a strong signal that the Government is serious about reaching its target of a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025.  
"To do this we need to follow the example of Australia, where significant spikes in excise duty, next to policies such as plain packaging, have seen a dramatic fall in the smoking rate to 12.8% by the middle of 2016. In Ireland, the smoking rate is just under 20%."
Around 20,000 people are diagnosed with invasive cancer in Ireland every year.
The number of new cases is rising annually and is projected to double by 2040.
Nearly 3,000 cancer deaths in Ireland annually, about one in four, are caused by smoking.
The Irish Cancer Society said keeping the price of cigarettes high and out of reach of young potential smokers is a key element of the strategy to reduce the smoking rate in Ireland.


Nearly 3,000 cancer deaths in Ireland annually, about one in four, are caused by smoking
 
Forest Ireland, a campaign group for smokers, has criticised the call to increase the cost of tobacco.
Spokesman John Mallon said: "Raising taxes on tobacco is an outrageous attack on the poor and the elderly. It will fuel illicit trade and drive law-abiding citizens into the hands of criminal gangs.
"Tobacco is a legal product and consumers shouldn't be punished or treated like lepers for exercising their right to buy or consume it."
He added: "It's very easy for senior executives with their high salaries to call for tax increases. If they have any empathy for ordinary people they should show a bit more compassion for those who enjoy smoking and are less well off."
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In a statement to mark World Cancer Day, Minister for Health Simon Harris said the new National Cancer Strategy, which will be published shortly, will focus on cancer prevention, early diagnosis and further improvements to cancer treatment.
The statement noted that the World Health Organisation estimates that 30% to 40% of cancers are preventable.  
It added: "Ireland has led the way internationally in anti-tobacco measures and this continues to be a priority area for cancer prevention."

New Treatment for Breast Cancer

Irish scientists may have found a way of treating one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer.
Researchers hope that a drug currently used to treat ovarian cancer can also be used to prevent the growth of triple-negative breast cancer cells.



If found successful in clinical trials the drug, APT-246, has the potential to save lives.
More than 250 people are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer each year, accounting for around one in six breast cancer cases globally.
This form of breast cancer is typically one of the most difficult to treat and is more prevalent in younger women.
The research was carried out by Ph D student Naoise Synnott, under the supervision of Professor Joe Duffy and Professor John Crown, involving laboratory tests in combination with current chemotherapy treatments.
It was funded by Breast-Predict and the Clinical Cancer Research Trust.
Ms Synott said: "At the moment the only form of drug treatment available to patients with triple negative breast cancer is chemotherapy.
"While this will work well for some patients, others may find that their cancer cells don't respond as well as might be hoped to chemo, leading patients suffering the side effects of this treatment without any of the desired outcomes".
Ms. Synott said she hopes the research will provide better treatment and give "hope to future triple-negative breast cancer patients".

Director of Breast-Predict, Professor William Gallagher said: "Over the last two decades drugs such as Herceptin have been discovered to target or block proteins that are responsible for the growth of some breast cancers.
"Finding a similar drug therapy for triple-negative breast cancer has so far eluded scientists, making these findings all the more important".
Head of research at the Irish Cancer Society, Dr. Robert OConnor hailed the development as a significant milestone.
He said since 2010, the Irish Cancer Society has invested €20 million in vital research thanks to the Irish public who continue to fund its work.

EU Health Directive - Tobacco Advertising!

Europe's highest court has upheld a tough EU law on standardising cigarette packaging and banning advertising of e-cigarettes, paving the way for its adoption this month.

The EU Court of Justice rejected a legal challenge brought by Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco.
The ruling could weigh on profits for the tobacco industry and sets a precedent for other governments to crack down on a habit that causes nearly six million deaths a year, world-wide.

"The court finds that, in providing that each unit packet and the outside packaging must carry health warnings ... the EU legislature did not go beyond the limits of what is appropriate and necessary," the court said in its decision.
The legal challenge, which was also supported by Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands, can now be taken no further.
The Tobacco Products Directive will take effect on 20 May, though there is a one-year sell-through period to allow wholesalers and retailers to sell existing stocks.
The Irish Cancer Society has welcomed the judgment, saying it is a defeat for the tobacco industry, which knows plain packaging works.
Its Head of Services and Advocacy, Donal Buggy, said: "Plain packaging of tobacco will save lives."
He said the ruling "represents the overcoming of another legal hurdle to the introduction of plain packaging in Ireland.
"What remains to be done now is the passing of minor technical amendments to legislation here, so that plain packaging can be introduced, in the very near future."

The EU court rejected Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco's challenge

Lung Cancer Management - Ireland

Lung cancer treatments that are currently in the development stage could be of particular benefit to Irish patients, it has emerged.

 

It comes as a study released by the Irish Cancer Society has suggested that the rate of mutation of a specific gene called PIK3CA is high in the Irish population compared to the international rate.

Treatments that target the mutation of this gene are currently under development and it has now emerged that these could be of particular benefit to Irish lung cancer patients.

The research was funded by the Irish Cancer Society, which said that it uncovered promising new avenues that could lead to novel therapies to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80pc of lung cancers and despite advances in anti-cancer therapies, the overall survival rate for lung cancer patients remains poor.

The research study announced yesterday, which was led by Dr. Susan Heavey and supervisor Dr. Kathy Gately, investigated a gene pathway called P13K.

It is known to play a key role in the control of cell growth.

Heightened activity of this pathway has been found to be associated with a more aggressive disease and poorer outcome for patients.

The research identified that a targeted drug called DHMEQ was highly effective at reducing growth of chemotherapy-resistant lung cancer cells.

However, the charity said that further work was required to investigate this finding.
The research group has secured funding from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) to continue the work.

View more information here

Map Brings Focus to Numbers

New Map Highlights Cancer Death Rate Inequalities:

People living in some poorer parts of the Dublin region, are twice as likely to die from cancer as people in more affluent areas, according to new analysis released by the Irish Cancer Society.
Drawing on analysis from the Centre for Health Geoinformatics at NUI Maynooth, the society says that people in poorer areas also have greater difficulty accessing healthcare.

A new map of cancer death rates compiled by Dr Jan Rigby, and funded by the Health Research Board, shows there are major health gaps within areas of Dublin.

For example, the map shows that cancer death rates varied from 381 per 100,000 in Blakestown North-West to 128 per 100,000 in Castleknock South-East.
    

Dublin city Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown South Dublin Fingal Meath Kildare Wicklow

Kathleen O'Meara, Head of Advocacy and Communications at the Irish Cancer Society said "Cancer affects all parts of Irish society but some people are more at risk than others and where you live has a huge influence on this.

“Unfortunately, the more deprived the area, the higher the risk of a person getting and dying from cancer. As well as this, often the poorest in society, have the greatest difficulties in accessing healthcare.

“In some deprived Dublin areas, there are not enough primary care resources - for instance in North Dublin there is one GP for every 2,500 people.

“Nationally this figure is 1:1600. In addition there have been increased A & E charges, long stay charges and increased prescription charges. By 2013 it has meant that every person in Ireland was on average paying about €100 in additional costs for accessing care and prescribed drugs.”

View more here 

Can Research Eliminate Cancer?

Prof Gerard Evan of Cambridge university to speak at Dublin event

Ireland has an opportunity to become a forerunner in the treatment of cancer, according to an expert who will tell an event in Dublin this week that cancer will be eliminated in our lifetime.

Gerard Evan, professor of biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, said Ireland had “a relatively small scientific community but one which is world class”. He said the international scientific community saw the development of collaborative centres by the Irish Cancer Society involving research teams with complementary skills as a “door-opening” initiative.

The first of these centres, Breast-Predict, was launched in2013, while plans for a second €7.5 million cancer research group set up jointly by the Irish Cancer Society and Science Foundation Ireland were announced earlier this month.

Prof Evan, who has worked in cancer research for the past 15 years, said he had “never been so excited” at the prospect that current research and treatments would see cancer eliminated in our lifetime. He said developments in the coming decades would be such that “I can pretty confidently say that my children will never have to worry about dying from cancer” .

He added: “Things are moving so fast now that if you can give someone an extra five years, new drugs many have developed in that time period.”

Prof Evan is a speaker at Can Research Eliminate Cancer?, organised by the Irish Cancer Society, at the Hilton hotel, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2, at 5pm on Wednesday.

View Press release here

Irish Cancer Society donates €1m to bowel-screening programme

The Irish Cancer Society has donated €1m to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, BowelScreen.

The money will be used to buy equipment in hospitals around the country to support the continued rollout of the screening programme.

Free bowel-cancer screening has been offered to people aged 60-69 since last year.

At a future date, the aim is to extend screening to those aged 55-74 years.

View article here