N.Y. Issues First Cancer Prevention Plan
Excerpt by Joel Stashenko, AP

Reducing the number of New Yorkers who smoke, weigh too much, don't exercise enough and are exposed to pollution should be among the state's cancer-fighting priorities over the rest of this decade, a new state cancer control plan stresses.

The first-ever state Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan is designed to combat what the authors said is the state's "large cancer burden" — a projected 35,800 deaths in 2003 alone, with the number expected to climb as Baby Boomers continue to age. The study estimated the direct and indirect costs of cancer in the state at $11 billion.

"For all its consequence in terms of human suffering and economic cost, there is reason for hope," the plan said. "Cancer is no longer the out-of-control, stealth disease it once was."

The plan was devised by state Health Department officials and medical experts under the prodding of the federal Centers for Disease Control, which wants all states to plan cancer prevention and treatment efforts. State Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello met Tuesday with officials from the American Cancer Society and leading cancer research and treatment facilities in the state to announce the plan and start coordinating its implementation.

"What we basically agreed to do is stay at the table indefinitely," said Dr. David Hohn, president of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. "This ought to be a living, evolving process and one that we're committed to not having sit on the shelf and gather dust."

Donald Distasio, the chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society for New York and New Jersey added: "This has to be real. It's about changing people lives and making their quality of life tremendously better."

The plan sets goals for reducing by 2010 behavior that has been linked to cancer, such as smoking and getting too much unprotected exposure to the sun, and increasing beneficial activities such as regular exercise and eating at least five servings a day of fruits and vegetables.

It also advocates for more extensive testing to catch cancers earlier and for making both screening and cancer treatments available to more New Yorkers.

The study says about a third of all cancers contracted by New Yorkers are preventable.

Some environmental and health groups complained when a draft of the control plan surfaced in June. It contained one reference to environmental factors such as chemical pollution and auto exhaust, which it said "may" be linked to cancer.

But the final plan says exposure to some chemicals is known to cause cancer or is likely to do so, including benzene, dioxin and chromium. It also says diesel emissions are "likely" cancer-causing agents, too.

"I think that environmental issues very much need to be on the table," Distasio said. "It's a complicated issue, but we are not in any way, shape or form dismissing it."

In addition to Hohn, representatives from Mount Sinai Hospital, the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the University of Rochester's James Wilmot Cancer Center, the NYU Cancer Institute, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Glens Falls Hospital attended Tuesday's meeting with Novello.

The experts said afterward they had agreed to work more closely together to attract research and grant dollars for their cancer-fighting efforts.

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