Stark health warning demands attention

Proper planning is crucial in any well-ordered society.

In the midst of all our current economic problems we have now a frightening health warning from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) that cancer cases are predicted to rocket in Ireland in the coming years.

Instances of the disease are expected to go up by 72% by the year 2030. The predicted rise is based on the 19,454 cases in 2008, rising to a projected 33,416 cases in 2030.

The predicted rise in this country is the worst in the 27 countries of the European Union. Ireland is well ahead of Cyprus, which is in second place, with a 55% increase being predicted.

Britain, our nearest neighbour, is down in 16th place with a 30% increase being forecast. The WCRF spokesman could not explain and would not speculate as to why such a drastic increase is being predicted in Ireland compared with Britain.

The WCRF said the European-wide increase is based on population changes, such as size and age.

The projections highlight the need to ensure that cuts in the health area take account of the growing cancer threat.

Although the spokesman refused to speculate, he did say that things like smoking, diet, and body weight, especially obesity, are becoming bigger issues leading to cancer. Those issues provide plenty of room for thought.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the Fight Cancer Triathlon to raise money for the Cancer Clinical Research Trust, Professor John Crown said that the predicted 72% increase in the disease here is “very plausible”.

It can be explained partly, he said, by demographic factors, such as the age profile of the population. The disease is more prevalent among older people, but obviously there is much more to the story than demographics.

The WCRF study actually predicts that there will be a 91% increase of cancer among those over the age of 65 in this country, compared with a 48% increase among the same age group in Britain.

What is even more frightening, however, is that a 49% increase is predicted among those under the age of 65 in Ireland, compared with a 9% increase among the same age group in Britain.

Serious questions must be asked about why the projected increase in this country is almost twice as great among older people in Ireland, compared with Britain, and more than five times as great among the young group.

Professor Crown thinks that our eating and drinking habits are contributory factors. He emphasised that it is critically important for a major educational initiative to be undertaken at schools and at the parental level.

Most of the older people in this country will have gone right through the educational system — primary, secondary, and some even third level — without any formal instruction on diet.

Literature, history, geography, maths and the various sciences are very important, but are any of them more important than our daily diet? Yet our educational system largely ignores diet, because it is not in the examination curriculum.