News
Sunbeds will be banned
Solariums will be banned in NSW from 2014 because of fear they cause melanomas. The ban on commercial ultraviolet (UV) solarium tanning units will come into effect from December 31, 2014, to give tanning businesses time to adjust. Environment Minister Robyn Parker will announce the proposal, which will affect 103 solariums in NSW. Australia has the highest melanoma rate in the world.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/sun-sets-on-ultraviolet-tanning-beds-20120203-1qxld.htmlAustralian women do not face an increased risk of rupture from French-made silicone breast implants
Some 4,500 Australian women have the breast implants made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), which was ordered by French authorities to withdraw its implants from the market in 2010 after it was revealed it used unapproved industrial-grade silicone in some products. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said all breast implants, not just PIP implants, have a 10 percent risk of rupture over a 10-year period after insertion. The PIP rate of rupture reported to the TGA was approximately 0.4 percent or 37 ruptures in 9,054 implants between 2002 and 2011.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/05/breast-implants-australia-idUSL3E8C50C820120105Vaccine Developed That Successfully Attacks Cancer
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the University of Georgia (UGA) have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases. "This is the first time that a vaccine has been developed that trains the immune system to distinguish and kill cancer cells based on their different sugar structures on proteins such as MUC1," Dr. Gendler says. This has exciting possibilities for treating cancer in men and women.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239221.phpOnly 55% of women undergo screening
Just over half of women in the target age group for breast screening actually have the procedure, a report shows. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, released today, found 55 per cent of women aged 50-69 are undergoing approved mammography screening. The figure is below the 70 per cent target, and has remained steady since 1996-97. This means that 45% choose not to undergo regular breast cancer screening, thus meaning that many lives are lost from breast cancer each year in Australia due to unnecessary late presentations of this disease.
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=10737420599Cancer Rate Easily Cut
Making small lifestyle changes might prevent more than four in 10 cancers, a major British study reveals. Scientists have calculated that at least 134,000 cases diagnosed in Britain last year were triggered by such causes as smoking, obesity, poor diet, alcohol or not breastfeeding. Researchers analysed hundreds of studies on the causes of the most common forms of the disease to work out how many were the result of lifestyle or environmental factors. They calculated 40 per cent of cancers in women and 45 per cent in men were preventable. Smoking was by far the biggest cause, responsible for nearly 61,000 cases diagnosed last year, nearly a fifth of the total.
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v105/n2s/full/bjc2011489a.htmlCancer Council launches 'iheard' website
Cancer Council Australia launched a new website this week called www.iheard.com.au. The site is designed to field questions from the public about whether cancer claims they have heard or seen (eg. on the web) have evidence to support them.
http://www.iheard.com.auSharp rise in women with lung cancer
The rate of new lung cancer cases in Australia is raising sharply for women while dropping for men, new government data shows. The report, Lung Cancer in Australia: An overview, was released yesterday by the Australian Health and Welfare Institute and Cancer Australia. It revealed that the rate of new lung cancer diagnoses rose by 72 percent for women but fell by 32 per cent for men between 1982 and 2007.
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=10737420419Fewer deaths due to Cervical Cancer
The number of Australian women killed by cervical cancer has halved since the introduction of the national screening program a decade ago, as indicated by figures released today. According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, cervical cancer mortality has declined from 5.5 deaths per 100,000 women in 1982, to 1.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2007. The report also found that the incidence of cervical cancer in eligible women aged 20 to 69 has almost halved since 1991.
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=10737420251Rise in HPV link to oral cancer
A type of oral cancer associated with sexual behavior has increased dramatically in the United States, according to a report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Oropharyngeal cancer, which occurs around the base of the tongue, the soft palate, tonsils and the side and back walls of the throat, has been increasingly linked with the human papillomavirus, HPV. During the 1980s only 16 per cent of these cancers were linked. Twenty years later, 70 per cent have been linked. Almost all HPV-positive oropharynx cancer are caused by the type of HPV that is targeted by vaccines for cervical cancer prevention.
http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2011/10/03/JCO.2011.36.4596.abstract?sid=802ef445-39b8-4d86-9500-a1434a05d4d1Lighten up on the vitamin E
It appears daily doses of vitamin E may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown men who took 400 international units of vitamin E daily were 17 per cent more likely to develop the cancer than those on a placebo. Experts say these results and those from large cardiovascular studies using vitamin E suggest there is no reason for men in the general population to be taking this dose of vitamin E as it confers no benefit and has some risks.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/14/1549.abstract?sid=520a599d-260f-4f8e-89c5-129181ad1380Opinion on prostate cancer screening test swings around
The wind is changing on testing men for prostate cancer. Traditionally there has been a tension between urologists who support testing and public health experts who caution against it.
Now, one of Australia's leading public health experts has surprised everyone by changing his mind. Bruce Armstrong is a pre-eminent international cancer epidemiologist who has been director of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. After analyzing new evidence, he has become the first Australian public health specialist to say the benefits of screening are highly likely. Last year, Armstrong reviewed results from a trial conducted in Goteborg, Sweden and says they were a game changer.
Published in The Lancet Oncology the results showed testing reduced deaths from prostate cancer by almost half over 14 years.
Confused attitude on breast cancer risks
Many women at high risk of breast cancer may be failing to protect themselves, a Melbourne study suggests. About 30,000 Australian women are at moderate or high risk of breast cancer due to family history, with no identified genetic factor. The Melbourne University study looked at women who have at least one close relative who was diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50, but with no known cancer causing gene mutation.
http://www.hccpjournal.com/content/9/1/7Vegetables cut risk of cancer
Eating vegetables such as brussels-sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli decreases the risk of proximal and distal colon cancers, an international study carried out in Perth has revealed.
Published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the study also found that eating more fruit and vegetables, especially apples and dark yellow vegetables, helped reduce the risk of distal colon cancer.
Cancer patients in denial
Cancer patients are in collective denial, attributing to stress, genetics or other factors beyond their control diseases more likely to be triggered by lifestyle choices such as obesity or smoking, the first Australian study into the question has found.
Smoking was mentioned less than half as often as stress among possible causes, even though there is little evidence linking psychological stress with cancer.
Cancer Council NSW surveyed nearly 3000 people in the state, all of whom had received a cancer diagnosis at some time within the previous 18 months.
It was possible people might be using the term stress as a catch-all for other factors more directly related to cancer, said the study leader, Associate Professor Freddy Sitas
Study confirms salt link to blood pressure risk
The link between high blood pressure and salt intake have been made for the first time in Australians. A study of 783 older Australians by Deakin University and Cancer Council Victoria found those who ate large amounts of salt were twice as likely to have high blood pressure. While various overseas studies have made links between salt intake and blood pressure, it is the first time an Australian study has demonstrated the association.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/195_03_010811/hug11065_fm.htmlRate of smoking at an all-time low
The rate of smoking is at an all-time low and alcohol consumption has fallen but illicit drug-use has risen, a government study reveals. An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released today, has found the proportion of people aged over 14 who smoke daily fell to 15.1 per cent, from 16.6 per cent in 2007.
The snapshot of the nation's drug habits found the biggest falls in smoking rates were among people in their early 20s to mid-40s.
Cervical jab winning cancer fight
An Australian-designed vaccine against cervical cancer is showing the first signs it is reducing serious abnormalities in young women. Health experts say the results from a Victorian study published in The Lancet today, give the first reassurance the Federal Government-funded vaccine program introduced in 2007 for schoolgirls is paying off.
The vaccine, Gardasil, protects against several strains of the human papilloma virus known to be responsible for most cervical cancers.
While experts say more research is needed to confirm the link, data from Victorias Pap test registry show that after the vaccine became available the rate of high grade abnormalities, or precursors to cervical cancer almost halved in young women aged 17 and under.
Why bowel cancer screening is a needed health care investment
At the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, Sarah Wenham and Leslie Russell, point out that "This year 17,000 Australians will be diagnosed with bowel cancer, every week 80 people will die from this disease, and the cost of treatment will hit $1 billion". They go on to point out that Australia's bowel cancer incidence is one of the highest in the world - surpassing the UK and the USA. They analyse the history of the NBCSP, look at programs in other countries and mount an argument for not only continued funding of the program, but a new commitment to it.
http://ncahslibraries.blogspot.com/2011/04/bowel-cancer-screening-issues.htmlBudget Belittles Bowel Cancer Screening
The Federal Budget has done little to tackle the 4000 Australian deaths each year from bowel cancer. Dr Guy Hingston said that “Just continuing funding for the current program is not nearly enough. We need the Federal Government to immediately endorse the 12-year-old recommendations from the Australian Government National Health & Medical Research Council that state that everyone in Australia over 50 years of age should have two-yearly faecal occult blood test bowel cancer screening."
http://www.portmacquarieindependent.com.au/wordpress/?p=1186New Skin Cancer Online Risk Calculator
Melbourne doctors have created a skin cancer calculator for people to work out their risk of getting a melanoma in the next five years.
The interactive website, created by doctors at The Alfred hospital's melanoma service, is designed to alert people at risk to the need for preventive measures and relevant screening.
