Cancer could snuff out 1 billion lives this century. That was one of several chilling statistics revealed at a news conference at the American Cancer Society on Tuesday in Atlanta.

The event - Conquering Cancer: A Global Effort - focused attention of the growing global threat of cancer and discussed efforts to address the problem. The latest edition of the World Cancer Report was also released at the event, which was attended by cancer survivor and world cycling champion Lance Armstrong.

“This is truly an international problem,” said Armstrong, who has become the poster boy for the fight against cancer after his much-publicized bout with testicular cancer. “Cancer speaks a lot of languages.”

Armstrong has become the poster boy for the fight against cancer after his much publicized bout with testicular cancer. The seven time Tour de France champion said he will race again to raise awareness about cancer.

“I came back for one reason and that is to bring a greater amount of perspective and exposure to the disease around the world,” Armstrong said. “I’m racing for one reason, and that’s to alleviate this disease around the world.”

The number of cancer deaths exceeds those of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, said Peter Boyle director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

There were about 7.6 million cancer deaths, of which 4.7 million were estimated in economically developing countries, according to the World Cancer Report. The number of cases of cancer and cancer-related deaths are expected to spike in the coming years.

By 2030, there could be 27 million incident cases of cancer, 17 million cancer deaths annually and 75 million persons alive with cancer within five years of diagnosis, the report showed.

Cancer is growing rapidly in low and middle income countries that have the least resources to address the burden, the report noted.

Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure stressed the need to finance more research and expand access to prevention and early detection measures.

While the U.S. government invests $5 billion in cancer research, Moddelmog noted, cancer racked up more than $200 billion in health care costs.

“Putting $5 billion against $200 billion-plus doesn’t sound like the right ratio to me,” she said.

Inadequate funding for cancer research, Moddelmog noted, means that promising research is not getting done and basic science is not getting translated into patient care.

“Cures are taking longer to find,” she said. “At the end of the day, more people are dying because some people don’t have that time to wait until we get around together to fund this research.”
Call to action steps issued at the Conquering Cancer:

  * Make vaccines that prevent cancer causing infections widely available to low-income countries.

  * Commit to a comprehensive tobacco control approach in the United States that would include increased tobacco taxes, smoke-free workplaces laws and expand access to cessation tools and programs.

  * Promote culturally sensitive risk reduction and education campaigns

  * Invest in cancer research and expand access to prevention and early detection measures.

  * Ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first global public health treaty that stipulates measures to reduce the health and economic impacts of tobacco. So far, 161 countries have ratified the treaty.

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Urvaksh Karkaria Staff Writer