Evaluation of the national cancer program and proposed reforms
- Univ. of Illinois, Chicago (United States)
A statement by 68 prominent national experts in cancer prevention, carcinogenesis, epidemiology, and public health, released at a February 4, 1992, press conference in Washington, D.C., charged that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has misled and confused the public by repeated claims of winning the war against cancer. In fact, age-standardized incidence rates have escalated to epidemic proportions over recent decades, while the ability to treat and cure most cancers has not materially improved. Furthermore, the NCI has minimized evidence for increasing cancer rates, which are largely attributed to smoking, trivializing the importance of occupational carcinogens as non-smoking attributable causes of lung and other cancers, and to diet per se, in spite of tenuous and inconsistent evidence and ignoring the important role of carcinogenic dietary contaminants. Reflecting this near exclusionary blame-the-victim theory of cancer causation, with lockstep support from the American Cancer Society and industry, the NCI discounts the role of avoidable involuntary exposures to industrial carcinogens in air, water, food, the home, and the workplace. The NCI has also failed to provide any scientific guidance to Congress and regulatory agencies on fundament principles of carcinogenesis and epidemiology, and on the critical needs to reduce avoidable exposures to environmental and occupational carcinogens. Analysis of the +2 billion NCI budget, in spite of fiscal and semantic manipulation, reveals minimal allocations for research on primary cancer prevention, and for occupational cancer, which receives only +19 million annually, 1 percent of NCI's total budget. Problems of professional mindsets in the NCI leadership, fixation on diagnosis, treatment, and basic research, much of questionable relevance, and the neglect of cancer prevention, are exemplified by the composition of the National Cancer Advisory Board.
- OSTI ID:
- 6704965
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Health Services; (United States), Vol. 23:1; ISSN 0020-7314
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
CARCINOGENESIS
DISEASE INCIDENCE
CARCINOGENS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
HEALTH HAZARDS
PUBLIC INFORMATION
FEDERAL EXPENDITURES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
DIET
EPIDEMIOLOGY
EVALUATION
INDUSTRY
NEOPLASMS
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC RELATIONS
WASHINGTON
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISEASES
HAZARDS
INFORMATION
NORTH AMERICA
PATHOGENESIS
USA
552000* - Public Health
550600 - Medicine