Friday, December 18, 2009

Vehicles of death: growing links between lung cancer and smoke


Tobacco Smoking a sure way to contract lung cancer


Revolutionary case against tobacco use in Nigeria

-Alexander Chiejina

…Tobacco control bill yet to be passed by National Assembly


Without a doubt, the health, economic, social, and environmental consequences of tobacco use in Nigeria and the continent are enormous. Little wonder the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently revealed that African countries are experiencing a 4.3 percent annual increase in the rate of tobacco consumption.
This has resulted in an upsurge of lung cancer and related cases which are now prevalent in the society. It was against this background that experts, at a recent training for health reporters on cancer reporting organised by Journalists Advocacy on Tobacco and Health held recently at Ogba, Lagos urged that the trend should be checked. Speaking at the event, Akinbode Oluwafemi, programme manager, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (FoEN), noted that tobacco smoking is responsible for more than 85 percent of lung cancers. This, he explained, is because smoking-related cancer accounts for 30 percent of cancer-related deaths, adding that renowned journalists in the country like Steve Kadiri, Yinka Craig, Momoh Kubanji, Tina Onwudinwe and Beko Ransome Kuti lost their lives due to the health hazards associated with the consumption of cigarettes. “Research findings have it that there are about 599 approved additives in a stick of cigarette. However, cigarette smoke has been proven to contain over 4000 toxic and cancer causing chemicals; carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, to name but a few,” Oluwafemi disclosed. According to him, cigarette advertising, promotion and sponsorship such as ‘Welcome to London, cool feeling’ have made cigarette smoking appealing to a lot of youths, without some of these tobacco companies apprising the public of dangers associated with smoking.
Lending his view, Tosin Orogun, programme manager, Communications and IT, Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), declared that the rise in cigarette smoking in the society is traceable to tobacco companies which increasingly target the developing world as barriers rise and smoking rates fall in more mature markets. “What we (ATCRI) have been trying to do is to facilitate the adoption, implementation and enforcement of effective in-country tobacco control policies, legislation and programs in Nigeria and across the continent,” Orogun revealed. Already, a 2009 report on the implementation of smoke-free environments aimed at combating Global Tobacco Epidemic shows that five more countries (Djibouti, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Malaysia and Mauritius) meet the best practices for health warnings on cigarette packages. Three other countries (Israel, Romania and the United Arab Emirates), meanwhile, offer comprehensive help in the drive to eradicate tobacco consumption. In the same vein, only Panama has joined the small group of countries that ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, even as more than 90 percent of people lack protection from tobacco industry marketing. Six more countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, the Netherlands and Seychelles) have levied tobacco taxes higher than 75 percent of retail price.
Lastly, of the world’s 100 most populous cities, 22 are smoke-free. Sadly, though, reports from the recently concluded media summit hosted by the American Cancer Society ahead of the AORTIC cancer in Africa, stated that 55 percent of school students are not aware that secondhand smoke is harmful to health, and only 1 percent of Nigeria’s population are protected by strong smoke-free laws. This lays bare the fact that if nothing is done to hastily check public smoking in the country, the rising figures of cancer and other non-communicable diseases may remain.
The bill to ban cigarette smoking in public places which had its public hearing before the National Assembly 19 July this year should quickly be passed into law. A part of the bill which seeks to protect people from secondhand smoke, raise taxes on tobacco, enforce a level of ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship would in the long run, save Nigerians from self- inducing cancer types.

SOURCE

SMOKING CAUSES 85% CASES OF LUNG CANCERS - EXPERTS


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

'Loneliness worsens cancer'

LONELINESS makes cancer both more likely and deadly, according to scientists. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said yesterday that the proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed social isolation tips the odds in favour of aggressive cancer growth.
Rodents kept alone developed more tumours - and tumours of a more deadly type - than rats living as a group.

The researchers put it down to stress and say the same may well be true in humans.

Cancer experts say more work is needed to prove such a link in people.

Lead investigator, Gretchen Hermes, of Yale University, said: "There is growing interest in relationships between the environment, emotion and disease.

"This study offers insight into how the social world gets under the skin."

Doctors already know that cancer patients who are depressed tend to fare worse in terms of survival.

It's possible that stressful situations could indirectly affect the risk of cancer by making people more likely to take up unhealthy behaviours that increase their risk

And previous research has suggested that social support can improve health outcomes for patients with breast cancer.

In the latest study, the researchers found that isolation and stress trebled the risk of breast cancer in the naturally sociable Norway rats.

Outcast rodents developed 84 times the amount of tumours as those living in tight-knit social groups, and the tumours also proved to be more aggressive.

The isolated mammals also had higher levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, and took longer to recover from a stressful situation than fellow Norway rats.

The researchers ultimately hope their work will help cancer patients.

Co-researcher Martha McClintock, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, said: "We need to use these findings to identify potential targets for intervention to reduce cancer."

Ed Yong, of Cancer Research UK, said: "This study was done in rats. Overall, research in humans does not suggest there is a direct link between stress and breast cancer.

"But it's possible that stressful situations could indirectly affect the risk of cancer by making people more likely to take up unhealthy behaviours that increase their risk, such as overeating, heavy drinking or smoking."

SOURCE

Monday, December 7, 2009

Waging war against cancer


At the recently concluded conference of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer, held in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, President Jakaya Kikwete called for urgent action to combat. He promised to use his position as the chairman of the African Union to call on the leaders of the continent to take the high incidence of cancer more seriously. We cannot agree more with him.

We are concerned that cancer has become such a common disease in Nigeria that more attention needs to be paid to adequate education and a campaign to open the eyes of the populace to the need to be more proactive in combating it.

In Nigeria, according to statistics, breast and cervical cancers are the most common among women while prostate cancer is more common among men. It is disheartening that except for a rash of nongovernmental organizations that have taken it upon themselves to mount awareness campaigns, not much is being done by government agencies and the ministries of health to complement these moves.

This is not to say that no measures have been embarked on by these agencies, but we must go beyond the rhetoric that seems to dominate some of these attempts. The time toact is now because many of our citizens are still ignorant about this disease and in many cases of cancer, early detection is the key to any hope of successful treatment. The various causes of the disease are also due to lifestyle factors and poor health habits.

Without knowledge and information on a wide scale to assist in early detection, there is almost no chance of fighting cancer. In fact, the level of ignorance at times is so abysmal that it beggars belief.

Some people today still think cancer is caused by ‘‘the devil'' and would therefore prefer to go to so called spiritual homes or traditional healers to seek a cure. There is an urgent need to have a coordinated approach against all forms of cancer in the country. In August,Turai Yar'Adua, the president's wife launched an appeal fund for the building of what was called an International Cancer Centre in Abuja with much fanfare. At the launch, millions were raised. Now, several months down the road the parcel of land where the centre is to be sighted is still fallow, as no sign of development has taken place.

Mr. Kikwete could have been talking about Nigeria when he told delegates, "Cancer services in Africa are grossly inadequate while statistics are really frightening in relation to the frequency, late stage of presentation and the number of deaths attributed to cancer. Cancer is more than an ordinary disease. Indeed it is many diseases. It is one of the maincauses of death worldwide.

I am told that globally cancer causes more deaths than HIV, TB and Malaria combined." For Nigerians who have been diagnosed with cancer the challenge of finding care is a daunting one characterised by a lack of equipment, drugs and trained personnel. Patients have to travel from one end of the country to the other for chemotherapy and other forms of treatment, which in most cases are expensive and out of their reach.

We are calling on government agencies, c o r p o r a t i o n s a n d n o n -governmental organisationsto see this not as a lone fight to be fought individually.

The best way to begin to tackle the problem of treatment is to make the basic instruments for early detection available in our hospitals nationwide to provide an alternative for those who truly feel they have no other option but to appeal to traditional healers and spiritual deities.