World Cancer Report

With more than 10 million new cases every year, cancer is one of the most devastating diseases worldwide. The disease burden is immense, not only for affected individuals but also for their relatives and friends. At the community level, cancer has posed considerable challenges for the health care systems in both poor and rich countries. The World Cancer Report (WCR) of 2007 provides a unique global view of cancer. It documents the frequency of cancer in different countries and trends in cancer incidence and mortality as well as describing the known causes of human cancer [1] (Table 1). 

Stewart BW, Kleihues P (2003) IARC Non serial Publication (World Cancer Report), http //www.who.int... 

World Cancer Report, lARC Press, Lyon. 

Boyle P, Levin, B., ed. 2008. World Cancer Report 2008. Lyon Cedex World Health Organization, www.who.int. Accessed February 2009. 

Perhaps more than other disease, cancer is a reflection of our modem environmental and lifestyle choices. The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes the World Cancer Report, which documents cancer trends, the frequency of cancer in different countries, and mortality rates. Their research suggests that approximately 4 percent of cancers are inherited or genetic the rest are preventable and are linked to lifestyle, diet, and the environment. 

World Cancer Report, World Health Organization, Geneva, April 3,2003. 

Table 19.1 The burden of cancer caused by infectious agents worldwide [Adapted and modified from lARC World Cancer Report (lARC 2003)]...

Stewart, B.W. Kleihues, P. World Cancer Report. Lyon lARC Press, 2003. 

The epidemiological evidence suggests that diet is a significant factor in the development of cancer. In their classic epidemiological study, Doll and Peto (1981) estimated that diet was responsible for as many as 35% of cancers in the West. An encyclopaedic report on nutrition and cancer by the World Cancer Research Fund (1997) has confirmed the central importance of diet as a major determinant of many forms of cancer across the globe. The interactions between diet and the biological processes leading to the... 

In 1981 Doll Peto estimated that diet accounts for 30% of all cancers, a claim strongly endorsed by a report published by the World Cancer Research Fund in 1997 ... 

WHO (1964). Prevention of cancer Report of a WHO expert committee. World Health Organization. 

Wiseman M. The second World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research expert report. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer a global perspective. Proc Nutr Soc. 2008 67(3) 253—256. 

Chromates. Epidemiological studies from around the world have consistently shown excess risks for lung cancer in workers involved in chromate and chromate pigment production. The epidemiological studies do not clearly implicate specific compounds but do implicate chromium(VT) compounds." (A recent report also implicated insoluble chromium(HI) as a cause of lung cancer in... 

The discovery of penicillin and its successful application in World War II inspired the antibiotic era, and a broad search for other cures for infectious diseases. Cancer has a totally different cause, as it arises through the malignant mutation of normal cells instead of from the actions of bacterial or other outside organisms. Penicillin destroys the bacteria cell walls, but not the mammalian cell membranes. Unless a dmg could be found that could tell the difference between a normal cell and a cancer cell, then it was not clear that there would be an effective cancer drug, that is until the first report by Goodman in 1946 that nitrogen mustard, developed as a war gas, was an effective chemotherapeutic for human leukemia. 

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