Marcus Butler
20 May 2015: World-renowned cancer expert Professor John D. Potter has issued a challenge to Australians, to do more to prevent cancer in the inaugural University of Canberra Health Research Institute Public Lecture.
Professor Potter discussed specific policies, actions and choices which he argues will help stop more Australians from developing cancer and why we seem to be reluctant to embrace some of these simple changes.
"Few people would dispute that over time, we could cut cancer rates at least in half and perhaps by up to 70 per cent with deliberate targeted changes," Professor Potter, former director of the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and a professorial fellow at the Centre for Public Health Research at New Zealand's Massey University, said.
"We all know that exercising more, keeping our weight down, eating a healthy diet that includes more plants and wholegrains and less meat and sugar, not smoking, and reducing alcohol intake can reduce our risk of developing cancer, but sadly, statistics show that trends in a number of these areas are moving in the wrong direction," he added.
"We know a lot about cancer prevention, but there are gaps between what we know and what we do."
Professor Potter said that there are areas where improvements in cancer prevention have been made, with the rate of lung cancer in men declining following long running anti-smoking campaigns.
"Cervical cancer rates have also declined greatly as the result of screening (with pap smears) among women and we already see evidence of additional benefit following the rollout of the HPV vaccine," he said.
Professor Potter explained that Australians do better as a result of activities that are supported by public policies and programs, but less well with changes that rely on individual behaviour change. He noted that prolonged coordinated programs are needed when cancer-causing exposures – such as tobacco, alcohol, and sugar – are profitable.
UC-HRI was launched in March, bringing together health expertise from across the University— supporting world-class health research and taking that research to the world.
