Bowel cancer kills 500 men each year

BOWEL cancer, which kills 500 men a year in this country, is at an all-time high. However, the majority of men do not understand either the risk factors or the symptoms of this common disease.

At yesterday's launch of Men's Cancer Action Week, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) said there were 1,056 new cases of bowel cancer and 493 deaths from bowel cancer in males in 2000.

But the mortality rate is decreasing year on year because of advances in treatment, according to ICS.