This year’s President’s Cancer Panel in the United States focuses on cancer and the environment.

Starting in September 2008, the US National Cancer Institute will hold a series of four public meetings of the President’s Cancer Panel. The role of the President’s Cancer Panel is to monitor the development and execution of the activities of the National Cancer Program, and to report directly to the President of the United States.

The meetings entitled “Environmental Factors in Cancer” will be held over the course of five months during 2008-2009, in four cities across the US. The overall question to be addressed is the role of the environment in cancer. The discussion will include a review of the general lines of evidence that establish the idea that environmental exposures are important in cancer etiology, the role of “avoidable” or “preventable” factors, and the magnitude of the role of the environment.

The four meeting themes are industrial and manufacturing exposures; agricultural exposures; indoor/outdoor air pollution and water contamination; and, nuclear fallout, electromagnetic fields, and radiation exposure. Discussions will focus on governmental regulations/policies on workplace protection, the effectiveness of current US regulatory system, which industries and populations are disproportionately affected, how agricultural chemicals affect water sources and food, the health effects of air pollutants produced by countries with little or no environmental regulations, and the health risks associated with increased exposure to ionising radiation used for medical diagnosis and treatment.

The official flyer for the President’s Cancer Panel is available at http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/agenda.htm.

HEAL’s US partner, the Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE) believes that these meetings and the associated actions that they are planning provide an opportunity to strengthen the science base of the official report of the Panel to the next President. If you are interested in attending any of the four meetings, please contact Eleni Sotos, CHE Program Director, email: eleni@healthandenvironment.org.