Author Archives: Glen

Did You Know? AICR’s Health Policy Priorities

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We’re in the middle of National Public Health Week, an effort to raise awareness about what we as a society need to do to live longer and healthier, so it’s a good time to highlight some key items on AICR’s public health agenda.

AICR funds research about how lifestyle influences cancer risk, and educates the public about those results. But our evidence-based Recommendations for Cancer Prevention are only the first step. We also commissioned an additional report to outline what needs to be done, and by whom, to effect the kind of societal changes that can promote a healthier population and reduce the number of cancer cases in the U.S.

That report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention offers recommendations to all levels of society — government, the food industry, schools, workplaces and more. That’s because our entire culture has contributed to the problem by creating an environment that promotes obesity, inactivity and nutrient-poor, calorie-rich diets, all of which make cancer more likely. Continue reading →


Small Steps, Big Changes: Public Health Week Message

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AICR is pleased to add our voice to that of the American Public Health Association (APHA), which has set aside this week, April 2-8, as National Public Health Week.

National Public Health Week is an effort “to encourage more Americans and their communities to take preventive measures to help improve their lives. Little steps can lead to big changes.”

When it comes to cancer, that simple message is clear. Just by changing what we eat, how much we move and how much we weigh, we could cut US cancer incidence by one-third. And it starts with small steps.

But, as we outlined last Friday, when it comes to the message of how we can reduce cancer risk, a stark knowledge gap exists.

In the the most recent AICR Facts vs. Figures Survey, we asked Americans to rank their health concerns, and to gauge their preventability. The figures are striking: Cancer is the nation’s most feared, and least understood, health concern. Continue reading →


Obesity, Cancer: Addressing the Knowledge Gap

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Two impressive scientific publications on cancer came out Wednesday afternoon. They focus on two different but closely related aspects of cancer prevention. Considered together, they make a very simple case, one that AICR has been making for years:

We already know what causes millions of cancers. We know exactly what needs to be done about it — both as individuals, and as a country.

So the question we must ask, on the cusp of National Public Health Week, is:  Why aren’t we doing it?

The first publication is a the latest annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer,  co–authored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society. Continue reading →