Today, as we do every February 4, we commemorate World Cancer Day. Organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (IUCC), World Cancer Day is a day for the global cancer community to come together and make our voices heard as we raise awareness about the need to make the fight to defeat cancer an international priority.
A key government report released last month speaks to the importance of ACS CAN's work on nutrition. The report, issued by the Federal Trade Commission, looked at how much money the food and beverage industry spends on marketing its products to children and teens.
Dr. Richard L. Deming is a highly inspirational physician and cancer center medical director who serves as a member of the ACS CAN Board of Directors. At our last Board meeting, I had a chance to hear Dr. Deming discuss his recent, incredible journey to Nepal.
This week marks not only the start of a new year, but also the anniversaries of two very important laws to assist the fight against cancer.
According to an annual report ACS CAN released today with several other public health organizations, states will spend less than two percent of this settlement money on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. This means the states are spending less than two pennies of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco addiction.
Tobacco control advocates had much cause for celebration yesterday! In a victory for public health, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered strong corrective statements that the tobacco companies must make to explain that they deliberately deceived the American public for decades about the health hazards of their deadly products.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on those things for which we give thanks. I would like to express my thanks for all of the incredibly talented cancer researchers and health care professionals who are making life better for those with cancer, their families and those at risk.
Tuesday marks a significant day for our country as we elect officeholders at all levels of government. Voters in Missouri have another important issue on the ballot that, if passed, could potentially save 22,000 lives a proposal to increase the state's lowest-in-the-country tobacco tax.
I recently came across a fascinating new study that shows the power of television advertising in encouraging people to quit smoking. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study results suggest that smokers who are exposed to graphic and/or emotional TV ads are more likely to attempt to quit smoking than smokers who don't see the ads.
To shed light on the economic devastation caused by tobacco around the world, the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation Monday held a unique event in Washington, DC to unveil the fourth edition of the Tobacco Atlas.