National Cancer Institute

WASHINGTON -- When tens of thousands gather in Washington today for the March to Conquer Cancer, many will celebrate some hopeful news: Overall rates of new cancer cases are declining for the first time since the 1930s.But a smaller group is highlighting a dismal footnote. Cancer rates among minorities remain high -- and in some cases are rising.Despite research advances, treatment breakthroughs and unprecedented levels of funding, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and American Indians get cancer and die from the disease at significantly higher rates than whites.

LOS ANGELES -- A drug used to prevent osteoporosis in older women reduces the risk of breast cancer by as much as 70 percent without any serious side effects, researchers said yesterday at a meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Los Angeles.The risk reduction produced by the drug, called raloxifene, is about the same as that reported earlier this year for tamoxifen, but the latter drug can increase the risk of endometrial cancer and blood clots."Coming on the heels of the recent tamoxifen study, this is very exciting news," said Dr. Derek Raghavan of the University of Southern California's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Alarmed at the seemingly high rate of brain cancer among children in St. Lucie County, Fla., a group of mothers who courted controversy with their calls for a major health study are starting to feel vindicated.Last summer, the mother of a child who died organized other families, raised concerns about the local water and soil and generally set the population on "pins and needles," in the words of the Port St. Lucie mayor.At first, the mothers' effort seemed to stall as community leaders tried to stave off panic over a highly questionable public health threat.

Confused about the mammogram guidelines for women in their 40s? Consider yourself in the majority.Last week, two of the nation's most influential cancer policy-making groups changed their recommendations yet again. You'd need a scorecard to keep track of it all.So here it is:The American Cancer Society, the nation's largest private cancer organization, recommends annual screening mammograms for women in their 40s. Previously, it recommended screening every one to two years.The National Cancer Institute, the government's principal agency for cancer research and public education, now recommends screening mammograms every one to two years beginning at age 40. Women whose risk for breast cancer is higher should consider getting mammograms earlier.

Last week, as Harriet Legum waited for her mammogram at the Johns Hopkins Imaging Center, she fumed about the latest pronouncement from the National Institutes of Health. Unable to confirm the life-saving value of routine mammograms for women in their 40s, an NIH panel said Thursday that these women should weigh the evidence and decide for themselves whether to have the test.A breast cancer survivor, Legum was furious that anyone -- let alone a prestigious national health organization -- would refuse to recommend regular mammograms for women in their 40s. Her frustration spoke for millions of American women who expect guidance from national experts and instead find confusion about whether mammograms will help save their lives.

Twenty-five years after the United States launched an all-out "war on cancer," the incoming president of America's top cancer research organization asks, "What war?"His question comes despite recent evidence that cancer death rates have finally started to decline after decades in which news from the battlefront was usually discouraging.Nobody believes more fervently in the cause than Dr. Donald S. Coffey, a Johns Hopkins researcher who decided to commit his life to cancer while meditating beside a bread-wrapping machine in the Tennessee bakery where he once worked.

A rare genetic defect linked to breast and ovarian cancer is eight times more common among Jewish women of European ancestry, researchers announced yesterday, promising the first inexpensive community screening test for the most common cancer among American women.Researchers at the National Institutes of Health offered the first direct evidence that an easily detectable alteration in a known breast cancer gene is present not only in high-risk families but also in a specific ethnic group among the general population.

In an isolated section of SmithKline Beecham medical laboratory in Owings Mills, three women pore over microscopes in search of misshapen nuclei. They work in silence, occasionally getting up from the desk to enter their findings in a nearby computer.Their mission: to locate abnormal cells, the detection of which can save a woman's life.Their job: one of the toughest in laboratory science.They are "reading" Pap smears, searching for cancer in cells scraped from a woman's cervix. Imagine trying to find a clump of squares in 20,000 round grains of sand poured on a desk, and you have an idea of what it's like.

WASHINGTON -- A federal advisory panel recommended yesterday a sweeping overhaul of the nation's anti-cancer campaign, predicting that at its present course, cancer will surpass heart disease as the nation's leading killer within five years.In a report to Congress, the group said that the program suffers from a lack of coordination and a shortage of funds needed to pursue "unprecedented opportunities" in scientific research.It said a White House-led effort -- including Cabinet-level representation -- was needed.

Women in electrical jobs are 38 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than other working women, according to a new study that found an even higher death rate among female telephone installers, repairers and line workers."