Tuesday 17 November 1998
Against a backdrop of increasing incidence, low awareness, uncertainties about screening and insufficient research funding the All Party Parliamentary Group for Male Cancers held its first meeting on Tuesday 17 November.
Led by Jane Griffiths, Labour MP for Reading East, and the Institute of Cancer Research's everyman action against male cancer campaign, the initiative was a response to the urgent need for increased research, greater funding and more awareness of both prostate and testicular cancer.
"This is an important step forward in addressing the serious long term implications of these diseases," said Professor Colin Cooper of the Institute of Cancer Research's everyman campaign who spoke at the inaugural meeting.
The everyman campaign is pressing for two key areas to be addressed: funding for an evaluation of the possible benefits of early prostate cancer screening, and increased resources for basic research including improved medication, gene identification, environmental factors and better procedures for early detection.
The All Party Group will be asked to consider the necessity for a randomised controlled trial of the screening procedure for prostate cancer by prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing.
"There is an urgent need for a trial to be conducted in this country to look at the long term effects of screening on mortality rates. This information would then feed into the development of better health provision for prostate cancer," said Professor Cooper.
"The Group also needs to consider that cases of testicular cancer are doubling every twenty years. We don't know why, and we need to find out quickly," he added.
Prostate cancer kills 10,000 men in the UK each year. Despite the fact that it is seen as an old man's disease, men as young as 40 can die from it, and as life expectancy has increased, a man aged 65 with prostate cancer could expect to live about another 15 years if his cancer was cured. The causes of testicular cancer, which affects young men primarily between the ages of 24 and 35, continue to baffle scientists. When detected early, testicular cancer can be cured in 96% of cases.
A recent MORI poll conducted for the Institute of Cancer Research's everyman campaign showed that over 80% of men knew little or nothing about prostate or testicular cancer.
The everyman campaign was set up to raise awareness and funding for prostate and testicular cancer, and to establish the UK's first dedicated male cancer research centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton.
- ends -
For further information please contact The Press Office on:-
Tel: 0207 970 6030
email: [email protected]
Please note:
Unfortunately the press office are unable to answer queries from the general public. For general cancer information please refer to The Institute's cancer information page.