We received some really exciting news from the National Colorectal Cancer Round Table (NCCRT) yesterday.
A new study shows that achieving the shared 80% by 2018 colorectal cancer screening goal would prevent more than 200,000 deaths from colon cancer, and that by 2030 80% screening rates would prevent 21,000 colon cancer deaths every year! According to study author Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, the impact of reaching the 80% by 2018 goal would be “huge.” The authors predicted that by 2030, colon cancer incidence rates would drop by 22% and death rates would drop by 33%.
That means achieving this goal would have an enormous impact, preventing 280,000 new cases and 200,000 deaths in less than 20 years.
According to Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society, “We know how many colorectal cancer deaths can be prevented. This is not an easy goal. It’s going to take everyone of us.”
Join the Colon Cancer Coalition and nearly 200 other organizations in this effort, sign the pledge that will get us to 80% by 2018.
