World Said to Be on Brink of Cancer Epidemic

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
04 February 2008

International health agencies say the world is on the brink¹ of a cancer epidemic². The World Health Organization reports 7.6 million people died of the disease in 2005. It predicts the number of cancer deaths and new cases of the disease will rise astronomically³ in the coming years, unless action is taken now to reverse smoking trends and provide treatment to patients in developing countries. To mark World Cancer Day, Monday, health campaigners are sending out a message that cancer need not and should not be a death sentence. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Cigarette commercials are no longer broadcast, at least not in the wealthy industrialized countries.

 

"Tobacco smoking is really the major problem that we are facing in public health at the present time," said Peter Boyle, the director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. He says cancer is a worldwide problem. The biggest rates of increase are in developing and newly industrialized countries, where more than 70 percent of all cancer deaths are expected to occur.

 

He says cigarette smokers⁴, as well as pipe and cigar smokers, are at increased risk of getting cancers of the lung, stomach, kidney and cervix, as well as leukemia.

 

"If the current smoking pattern continues, we can expect to have 150 million deaths, attributable to smoking in the first 25 years of this century. Between 2025 and 2050, the effect of this smoking epidemic which started in the last half of the last century in the low and middle-resource countries will kick in and we expect to have 300 million deaths in the second quarter of this century. And, in we estimate that in the last half of this century, we will have 500 million deaths from tobacco smoking if trends continue," he added.

It takes about 20 to 30 years from the time a person begins smoking for a cancer to develop. Since people in the developing world started taking up the habit several decades after the developed countries, the full extent of cancer-related deaths has not yet been seen.

 

Boyle says the good news is there is time to prevent many of these deaths from happening.

 

"Stopping smoking reduces, leads to a reduction in the risk, the elevated risk you have obtained and through your smoking habit," continued Boyle. "And, the longer you stop smoking, it seems the greater the reduction of the risk and it approaches that of a life-long non-smoker."

The World Health Organization reports one-third of all cancers can be prevented and one-third of all cancers are curable, if detected early. It says radiation is an effective and cost-effective treatment for up to 50 percent of cancer patients.

 

And, that is where the nuclear watch dog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency comes in. The IAEA is involved in the Atoms for Peace Program, which among other things, supports countries in the area of radiation therapy.

 

However, the head of the IAEA's Program of Action for Cancer Therapy, Massoud Samiel, says there is a shortfall of more than five thousand radiotherapy machines, worldwide. And, most people in developing countries who need radiation treatment do not have access to it.

 

"The lack of investment in early detection and diagnosis⁵ also results in patients coming very late," said Samiel. "So, even if they have the radiotherapy machines, they cannot actually save lives because there are no screening programs. There are no early detection programs. So, patients present themselves quite late in the radiotherapy centers."

He says, at that late stage, all that can be done for the patients is to reduce their pain.

The IAEA is running pilot projects in Albania, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and Yemen. The aim, in the next three to five years, is to help these countries build up their national cancer prevention and treatment programs.

 

The International Union against Cancer is involved in this program. This year, it also is launching a global campaign to create smoke-free environments for children. Executive Director Isabel Mortara says there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand⁶ smoke.

 

"There are 700 million children, around the world, who regularly breathe tobacco smoke," said Mortara. "Children are exposed to serious health hazards, including low birth weight, asthma⁷, bronchitis, pneumonia⁸, etc. There's new research which also shows that children who grow up in smoking homes are twice as likely to smoke themselves."

Mortara says many people, including doctors and nurses, are ignorant about the hazards of passive smoking. She says they and policy makers⁹ must be educated about the threat, so they can take the actions needed to dramatically reduce the expected number of cancer-related deaths in the world.

1 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 astronomically   

天文学上

参考例句：

• The bill was astronomically high. 账单上的金额高得没谱儿。
• They have only been read as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not astronomically. 它们之被群众阅读，有如群众之阅览繁星，至多是从星象学而不是从天文学的角度阅览的。

4 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

5 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

6 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

7 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

8 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

9 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》