A Cancer Prevention Manifesto for 2024
About CancerWatch CancerWatch is a charity made up of people whose lives have been affected by cancer, and who are passionate about eliminating preventable cancers in the future. We campaign for more effective action to prevent cancer. We believe that currently too little is being done to tackle preventable cancers at their source. Cancer prevention:… Read More >
Sector Review – Punching Below Our Weight – Cancer Prevention
To commemorate World Cancer Day 4th February 2024, we are publishing our latest report “Punching Below Our Weight: A Review of the Cancer Charity Sector’s Attitudes to Cancer Prevention”, in which we review almost 50 organisations in the cancer charity sector for their attitudes to cancer prevention. Although a widespread commitment to prevention exists among… Read More >
What do cancer charities think about prevention?
CancerWatch exists to campaign for improved cancer prevention, and we will take a major step forward when we achieve registration as a charity this year. From there, we will aim to build up our campaigning activity. But what should that new activity look like? What work can we do that will not replicate what other… Read More >
State of play: screening
Throughout this Cancer Prevention Action Week, we are reviewing the current state of public policy for the major risk factors in causing preventable cancers. CancerWatch’s mission is to secure a reduction and ultimately the elimination of preventable cancers. Very technically, screening might seem to sit outside the scope of this work: if a screening programme… Read More >
State of play: alcohol
Throughout this Cancer Prevention Action Week, we are reviewing the current state of public policy for the major risk factors in causing preventable cancers. Like poor diet and smoking, alcohol can cause many illnesses. The most widely recognised are probably liver disease and the life-disrupting effects of alcohol addiction, but the causal link to cancer… Read More >
State of play: diet and food
Throughout this Cancer Prevention Action Week, we are reviewing the current state of public policy for the major risk factors in causing preventable cancers. There is a clear link between obesity and numerous cancers – 13, according to Cancer Research UK. This link is both statistically clear, and increasingly well understood in biomedical terms: fat… Read More >
State of play: smoking
Throughout this Cancer Prevention Action Week, we are reviewing the current state of public policy for the major risk factors in causing preventable cancers. Tobacco use is the area where historically there has been the strongest policy action to prevent harm. Much of the progress in extending life expectancy over the later part of the… Read More >
Cancer prevention needs structural change: individual responsibility isn’t enough
It’s a remarkable statistic that around 40% of cancers in the UK are preventable. It offers great hope for improvements in the future, but at the same time makes depressingly clear how many people are becoming ill and dying who would otherwise have enjoyed years of good health. Overwhelmingly, the things that make these cases… Read More >
Obesity and Planning Permission
The obesogenic nature of our inner cities has long been a cause of concern for activists campaigning against poor health, and the key instrument for control of inner city environments is planning permission. In the post war years such permission has become fiercely complex and very much the realm of lawyers, yet normal inhabitants of… Read More >
The Problem with Children’s Obesity
During the lockdown, my front door has been the recipient of countless leaflets promoting take-away food of a distinctly dubious nutritional quality. This caused me to write to my local council complaining about high fat, fast food take-aways and the effect they had on obesity. I received a fulsome letter back from the local councillor… Read More >