 Is there really a link between cancer and the environment? The answer is yes. Environmental carcinogens are prevalent. The National Cancer Institute refers to studies as far back as the 1960s concluding that the majority of cancers could be prevented by acting on what was known about the causes of the disease. Some reports even estimate that the incidence of cancer could be reduced by as much as 80 to 90 percent 4. The environment is defined as everything outside the body that interacts with humans, including lifestyle factors such as diet, tobacco, and alcohol, according to the National Cancer Institute 1.
The subject of cancer and the environment is finally receiving more attention as a high-level public health risk due to environmental carcinogens. In 2010, the President's Cancer Panel published a report Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now, emphasizing failed attention and regulations to environmental contaminants as well as massive neglect for addressing cancer prevention and cancer control through environmental causes of cancer.
"The true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated. With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread… Most also are unaware that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults. Efforts to inform the public of such harmful exposures and how to prevent them must be increased. All levels of government, from federal to local, must work to protect every American from needless disease through rigorous regulation of environmental pollutants. Environmental exposures that increase the national cancer burden do not represent a new front in the ongoing war on cancer. However, the grievous harm from this group of carcinogens has not been addressed adequately by the National Cancer Program 5."
A critical area for effective cancer prevention and cancer treatment is environmental oncology or "the study of the environmental causes of cancer—physical, chemical, biologic and social—and the practice of preventing cancer through promoting avoidance of these agents," according to the Environmental Health Trust 3. Integrative cancer care centers and providers such as the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center are developing strategies to reduce cancer by translating scientific findings about environmental causes of cancer into ways to minimize risk.
Environmental carcinogens are also addressed in a larger field called environmental health. Defined by the World Health Organization WHO, environmental health represents "those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social and psychosocial factors in the environment 2." The WHO emphasizes the need to prevent the environmental factors that adversely impact the health of present and future generations.
Attention must be directed to the environmental causes of cancer. This is central to advances in cancer prevention and essential for anyone with a cancer diagnosis. Environmental causes of cancer must be explored, further evaluated, and acted upon through reducing and eliminating exposures individually, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.
We are not separate from our environment.
We are a part of the environment.
We reflect the environment.
All of the parts create the whole.
Causes of Cancer (coming soon)
Learn about known factors associated with the environment that cause cancer.
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References
- National Cancer Institute. 2002. Cancer and the Environment: What You Need to Know What You Can Do (accessed 07/05/10)
- World Health Organization. 1993. Environmental Health Issues of WHO (accessed 07/05/10)
- Environmental Health Trust (accessed 07/05/10).
- National Cancer Institute. 2004. The Majority of Cancers Are Linked to the Environment (accessed 07/05/10)
- President's Cancer Panel. 2010. Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now (accessed 07/05/10)
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