Irish Cancer Society contributes to Senate report on how to cut cancer risk

By Kathleen O'Meara, Head of Advocacy and Communications, Irish Cancer Society

We are delighted with the Report published on Wednesday by the Seanad’s Public Consultation Committee on Changes in Lifestyle and Preventing Cancer because it’s recommendations line up very closely with our own. It’s also really heartening to see our legislators giving attention to the key current trend around cancer, which is the extent to which all of us can reduce our risk of getting cancer by making positive lifestyle changes.

At the launch Senator Susan O’Keeffe spoke eloquently and  about the moment when the penny dropped for her about the extent to which the way we live plays such a major part in our risk of getting cancer.

While she spoke she had a copy of the Society’s new Strategy Statement “Towards a Future Without Cancer” in her hand, and she referred to it throughout. Our new strategy will focus strongly on this area and we will be developing new initiatives in communities to empower them to take on reducing their risk.

We were also very pleased to hear a very strong message from the Senators about the battle against tobacco and keeping up the effort, all the time, to bring down the smoking rate.

Dr. Susan O’Reilly, head of the National Cancer Control Programme, who was present at the launch event, appealed to the Senators to recognise that high tax and price are critical weapons in the battle against tobacco and not to be fooled by the industry’s argument that high price leads to tobacco smuggling. She was echoing our message and it was great to hear it coming from such an important and authoritative source.

Download a copy of the Seand Public Consultation Committee Report here (pdf, 612KB)