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A 240 page government report on the risks of cancer from chemicals and other environmental hazards was published late last week by the President’s Cancer Panel. The report, whose authors were appointed to the Panel by President Bush, says that the incidence of cancer caused by environmental factors has been grossly underestimated, and urges President Obama to “use the power of [his] office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nations productivity, and devastate American lives.” Current regulation is ineffective due to lack of staff and funding, labyrinthine rules, laws fraught with loopholes, inadequate enforcement, and too much industrial influence. While the report states that the authors do not know how much environmental exposures influence cancer risk, it does stress that there is a growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer. The American Cancer Society responded by downplaying these claims, stating that the report was unbalanced by presenting the theory that pollution is a key cause of cancer as fact. The ACS, which attributes about 6 percent of cancer incidence to environmental factors, emphasizes that individual lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, diet and exercise contribute the most cancer risk. 41% of Americans are diagnosed with cancer sometime during their lives. The panel, whose findings and suggestions may help push certain legislation through Congress, such as Senator Diane Feinstein’s ban of Bisphenol-A in plastics, and Senator Frank Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act.

GUEST: Dr. LeSalle D. Leffall Jr., surgical oncologist, Chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel