Fed: Cancer rate has doubled; AUS lifestyle the cause

Rising levels of obesity on top of the delayed effects of smoking were behind the major increase in the cancer, says Professor Ian Olver who is chief executive of Cancer Council Australia.

"This is a big concern, not just in Australia but in many other countries where increasing affluence is being accompanied by expanding waistlines," Professor Olver said in a statement to mark World Cancer Day 2010 (February 4).

"Oesophageal cancer is a good example of how Australia is falling short of our potential to prevent cancer through lifestyle change, with 37 per cent of cases attributed to obesity and more than 45 per cent caused by smoking."

Prof Olver said although community-wide smoking rates were declining slowly, rates of related illness were rising as the ramifications of tobacco use were only just emerging for many long-time smokers.

The number of Australians who were overweight or obese was also in a "disturbing" upward trend, he said, in a call for all tiers of government to do more in the area of prevention initiatives.

Prof Olver said the incidence of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus, which is linked to obesity, had tripled in some Australian states since 1982.

The message on World Cancer Day "couldn't be clearer", he said.

"The government has a blueprint for preventing cancers caused by smoking, obesity and alcohol in the form of its Preventative Health Taskforce report," Prof Olver said.

"Federal, state and territory government's must show genuine commitment to work together to reduce the impact of a disease responsible for more premature death in Australia than any other cause."