Tidal wave of cancer coming as Aussies urged to cut booze
IMMEDIATE action is required to combat a "tidal wave of cancer" that will sweep the globe in the next 20 years, scientists at the World Health Organisation have warned.
The number of new cancer cases worldwide in a single year will rise by 70% from 14.1 million in 2012 to 24 million in 2035, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said in their latest World Cancer Report.
The future global burden of cancer will increasingly shift to poorer countries, WHO said, but it added that half of all world cancers are now preventable with existing medical knowledge and expertise.
Annual deaths from cancer will almost double in the same time period from 8.2 million to 14.6 million.
One of the report's editors, Dr Bernard Stewart from the University of New South Wales in Australia, said that modifications to human behaviour, such as reducing alcohol consumption, would play a "crucial role in combating the tidal wave of cancer which we see coming across the world".
"In relation to alcohol, for example, we're all aware of the acute effects, whether it's car accidents or assaults," he said.
"But there's a burden of disease that's not talked about because it's simply not recognised, specifically involving cancer.
"The extent to which we modify the availability of alcohol, the labelling of alcohol, the promotion of alcohol and the price of alcohol - those things should be on the agenda."
Smoking is responsible for around 20 per cent of all cancers globally and lung cancers are the most common form of cancer in the world, accounting for 13 per cent of all cases and 19 per cent of all cancer deaths.