Cancer cases are expected to more than double between the years 2000 and 2030, says the director of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.This upward climb will occur primarily in poor countries due to an increase in population growth, longer life expectancy, more smoking, and a lack of health care in low and medium-resource countries.
"What's going to happen between now and 2030 is that the population is going to increase from about 6.5 billion to 8 billion in 2030," Dr. Peter Boyle reports. "So even if the risks remain constant at each five-year age group, because we've got more people around, we're going to have more cases of cancer.
It's the unfortunate successes for developed countries over the past 40 years, such as the export of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, that have doomed poorer countries, says Boyle.
Consider this definition of doom: By the year 2030, there will be 27 million cases of cancer, 17 million deaths caused by the disease, and 75 million people living with cancer.
1. Jacki, Thanks for your post, especially your remark about alcohol consumption.
The role of alcohol consumption and cancer is not limited to poorer countries. The affluent educated community of Marin County, California has a risk of breast cancer of one in four women. One of the possible factors this has been attributed to is the elevated alcohol intake in women in Marin County relative to other areas.
Overall, in the U.S., alcohol intake is responsible for 3.6 percent of cancer deaths. Thanks
Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Co-Author, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time, Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer"
http://www.avoidcancernow.com
Posted at 3:01PM on Apr 6th 2007 by Lynne Eldridge M.D.