[Sust-mar] Please sign the cancer prevention declaration!

[Paul Falvo]

We hear lots about cancer TREATMENT. Here is something that attacks the 
CAUSES of cancer . . . brought to us by a coalition of Canadian 
environment, health, labour and social justice leaders:



*Please support cancer prevention –*

*sign on to the Cancer Prevention Declaration!*

Many of us are unaware that more than half of cancers are preventable, 
caused by our exposures to harmful substances, including in chemicals in 
household products, cleaners, pesticides, and additives in our food.

More than one third of Canadian women and nearly half of Canadian men 
will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. That means 
that this year, nearly 150,000 Canadians will learn they have cancer and 
70,000 will die from cancer. By the end of this decade, more Canadians 
will die of cancer than of any other cause.

It is time to end this epidemic, and focus on cancer prevention. We must 
urge all our elected officials to come together and stop cancer before 
it starts.

A group of Canadian environment, health, labour, and social justice 
leaders have come together to form Prevent Cancer Now (PCN), and 
national coalition that will put the prevention of cancer first, in 
government policy, in delivery of health services, and in the public’s 
mind. PCN has developed a declaration that details a number of actions 
that government can take to attack the root causes of this terrible 
disease, and we urge your organization to join us in signing the Cancer 
Prevention Declaration.

PCN will be soliciting support for the Declaration for presentation to 
Parliament in Canadian Cancer Month (April) as we celebrate Earth Day.

*Please take a moment and sign the *

*Cancer Prevention Declaration today.*

* *

*For more information or to sign on, *

*contact Prevent Cancer Now at info at preventcancernow.ca 
<BLOCKED::mailto:info at preventcancernow.ca>, or by phone at 613-482-8124. *

* *

*Please include your name, organization name, email, and contact 
information by Friday, April 20, 2006.*

*Cancer Prevention Declaration*

We, the undersigned, do not accept that Canada’s epidemic rates of 
cancer are the price we must pay for modern living.

We are no longer prepared to grant that cancer has become a recognized 
disease of childhood; that our women friends are expected to stoically 
sport scarves and turbans while awaiting an uncertain fate from breast 
cancer; that young men are increasingly diagnosed with testicular 
cancer; and that workers in many occupations are dying in order to make 
a living.

Taking all cancers together, over one third of Canadian females, and 
closer to half of all Canadian males will know the fear, pain, and 
anguish of cancer at some point in their lives.

Cancer is imposing a huge and growing burden on Canada’s health care 
system, draining valuable public resources and affecting our nation’s 
productivity.

Scientists tell us we know enough /now/ to prevent well over half of all 
cancers. Good personal habits, such as not smoking and drinking alcohol 
in moderation, are important, but we must also stop the toxic trespass 
of carcinogens into our bodies from the air we breathe, the water we 
drink and the food we eat.

We appeal to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Stephen 
Harper, the Minister of Health, the Honourable Tony Clement, and the 
Minister of Environment, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, to make primary 
cancer prevention a national priority.

We applaud your $260 million commitment to the Canadian Strategy for 
Cancer Control, and we urge that a significant portion of this funding 
be dedicated to cancer prevention – stopping cancer before it starts.

· We ask you to act immediately to reduce or eliminate exposure to known 
and suspected carcinogens, in our homes, schools, workplaces and 
ecosystems throughout Canada.

· We urge you to meet, and even exceed, the chemical stewardship goals 
of the European Union’s REACH /(Registration, Evaluation and 
Authorisation of Chemicals/) legislation and the Strategic Approach to 
International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

· We ask you to adopt a new approach to pollution prevention in Canada, 
particularly as this applies to occupational hazards. This initiative 
would apply to all toxic substances in commercial use, and emphasize the 
elimination of known and suspected carcinogens from our workplaces. We 
further ask that you fund a national Just Transition Commission to 
ensure that workers are able to shift from toxic jobs and industries to 
sustainable, equitable employment opportunities in healthy communities.

· We ask you to strike an independent, multi-stakeholder, Green 
Chemistry Task Force that will explore legislative and other mechanisms 
to establish and encourage new productive capacity in the design, 
manufacture, and use of chemicals that are safer for biological and 
ecological systems, and place Canada on the path to a sustainable future.

· We ask you to work with other stakeholders to develop a Toxics Use and 
Products* *Reduction Act that will provide incentives for industry to 
reduce the amounts of toxic chemicals used.

· We ask you to immediately implement product labelling laws requiring 
the disclosure of all possible, probable and known carcinogens, so that 
consumers can make informed purchase choices.

· We ask you to implement government procurement contracts requiring 
vendors to provide carcinogen-free products.

· We ask you to fund a national cancer registry requiring local and 
provincial cancer registries to take occupational and environmental 
histories of patients.

· We ask you to work with your provincial, territorial and municipal 
counterparts to effectively accomplish the above-mentioned strategies 
and more.

As Canadians, we have a shared responsibility to eliminate the causes of 
cancer. To focus on treatment and ‘the cure’ for cancer is good and 
necessary. To focus on eliminating the root causes of cancer is better.

We ask that you act to prevent cancer _now_.

Signed:

Liz Armstrong, Co-Chair, Prevent Cancer Now

Guy Dauncey, Co-Chair, Prevent Cancer Now

Elizabeth May, Executive Director, Sierra Club of Canada


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P Falvo PO Box 933 (867) 873-LOON (5666) Yellowknife NT X1A 2N7 MGP 
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