Half of cancer deaths preventable

Half of cancer deaths preventable

"ACS: Half of cancer deaths preventable
Reuters, Thursday, March 31, 2005

More than 60 percent of all cancer deaths could be prevented if Americans stopped smoking, exercised more, ate healthier food and got recommended cancer screenings, the American Cancer Society reported on Thursday.

And Americans could realistically cut the death rate in half, the report says. This year 1.368 million Americans will learn they have cancer and 563,700 will die of it.

'The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2005, more than 168,140 cancer deaths will be caused by tobacco use alone,' the organization said in a statement.

'In addition, scientists estimate that approximately one-third (190,090) of the 570,280 cancer deaths expected to occur in 2005 will be related to poor nutrition, physical inactivity, overweight, obesity and other lifestyle factors.'

That totals 358,230 or 62 percent of all cancer deaths.

'The issue is how many could you actually pull off in reality and half doesn't seem like a big stretch,' Dr. Michael Thun, head of epidemiology for the non-profit group, said in an interview.

'If one could eliminate tobacco use, you would eliminate about half of cancer deaths. If you could help people maintain a healthy body weight and get more physical activity, that would be another 10 percent,' he added."

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