Help eliminate cancer

Want to help find ways to prevent cancer? If you are between the ages of 30 and 65, have no personal history of cancer (except basal or squamous cell skin cancer) and are willing to provide a blood sample and answer periodic surveys, here's a study you should join. The American Cancer Society launched its third Cancer Prevention Study (CPS-3) in 2010 and is seeking more participants. The goal is to enroll 300,000 by the end of 2013. The ACS has signed up about half of that so far. Since the 1950s, the ACS has been conducting long-term studies in which researchers collect information, such as medical and lifestyle data, from participants over a period of time. The information from these studies has resulted in major findings, such as linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer and connecting physical activity to lowering the risk of certain cancers. As people's lifestyles and environments change, it is important to keep these studies going –- to collect current data, identify new links to cancer and find ways to prevent it. The first CPS ran from 1959 to 1972. The second CPS started in 1982 and is still going. With CPS-3, the ACS is hoping to collect even more data, especially on various ethnic and racial populations. Cancer seems to target certain populations but we don't know why. For example, liver cancer rates are higher in Hispanics than in non-Hispanic whites, and African-American men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer compared with white men. With studies like CPS-3, we are hoping the data will help us to understand why. The ACS is recruiting for CPS-3 around the country. Some of us on the CURE staff are going to participate. Join us, and let's support ways to fight this disease, so that future generations don't have to. For more information about CPS-3, including finding a test site near you, click here.